The U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Eastern District of New York has announced that Somorie Moses, who is also known as Sugar Bear, has confessed to the murder of his prostitute girlfriend and the sex trafficking of eight other women. Sugar Bear, a notorious Brooklyn pimp, has a reputation for his extreme acts of violence, according to reports by Fox News.
According to prosecutors, on January 13, 2017, Moses allegedly beat Leondra Foster, who was 32 years old at the time, to death in the apartment they shared. It is further alleged that he then proceeded to dismember her body using a saw and knife.
Four days later, he disposed of her torso and limbs at a sanitation site in the Bronx, New York.
The police found Foster’s severed head, hands, and feet, including a foot with the name “Somorie” tattooed on it, in a deep freezer at Moses’ residence in Brooklyn.
On September 15, Moses, who is 47 years old, pleaded guilty. According to Fox News, in 2019, he was convicted of concealment of a corpse and criminally negligent homicide in a Brooklyn state court. However, he was acquitted of murder charges.
He was acquitted of the murder of Leondra Foster in November 2019, as determined by the Brooklyn criminal court.
During the trial in 2019, Moses’ lawyer, Julie Clark, presented the argument that he could not have been responsible for the murder of Leondra Foster. The basis of this argument was that Moses, being a businessman, had no motive to harm her as it would negatively impact his financial interests. However, the defence admitted that he had dismembered her deceased body and hidden her remains.
Had he not been rearrested by the federal authorities on charges of murder in relation to sex trafficking, which was the first instance of utilising a newly enacted federal statute, as stated by the United States Attorney’s Office, he would have been eligible for parole in May 2022.
In his previous court case, Moses admitted to dismembering Foster’s remains but maintained that he did not commit the act of killing her. During his testimony, he admitted to earning money as a “pimp” for a period of twenty years and acknowledged physically assaulting Foster by admitting to causing multiple black eyes.
Court documents confirm that federal investigators have discovered two individuals who are prepared to testify that the pimp confessed to them about Foster’s murder, following Moses’ state trial.
“While the defendant’s total admission of guilty cannot undo the terrible harm he has caused, we hope it will bring a measure of closure to his victims who suffered the defendant’s extreme cruelty and brutality, and to the family of Ms. Foster,” stated U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, Breon Peace, in the press release.
Although the defendant’s complete admission of guilt cannot reverse the immense harm he has inflicted, we anticipate that it will provide some level of closure to his victims, who endured his extreme cruelty and brutality, as well as to Ms. Foster’s family.
Moses, who is also known by the aliases “Somorie Barfield,” “Sugar Bear,” “Bear,” and “Daddy,” is currently facing a potential prison sentence of 15 years to life.
Prosecutors further stated that Moses has been pressuring his victims since at least 2003 to tattoo his name on their bodies. He has been accused of using violence, threats of violence, and psychological manipulation to force women and girls, including minors, into prostitution for his own benefit.
The press release from the USAO confirmed that Moses allegedly deceived his victims by using false notions of love and marriage to engage in sexual relationships with them. He then allegedly coerced them into working as prostitutes and demanded that they hand over the money they earned to him.
According to court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, when one of Moses’ victims attempted to leave prostitution, he subjected her to torture using a Taser until she ultimately gave in.
Moses assaulted another woman by slashing her arms and back and then proceeded to beat her with a belt. As if that wasn’t enough, he also poured lemon juice on her, causing permanent scarring.
According to the documents, a third woman was subjected to a beating with an extension cord. Following this, Moses proceeded to threaten her by suggesting he would rub salt on her wounds.
It is alleged that Moses held a loaded gun in the mouth of a fourth woman, who expressed her desire to quit working as a prostitute. He reportedly threatened to harm both her and her child.
A statement from prosecutors further explained that before Moses faced new federal charges, many of his victims had expressed significant concerns about their safety.
Records from the New York sex offender registry show that Moses has been convicted of felony charges related to the attempted promotion of prostitution and profiting from the prostitution of a person under 16.
