Five charged in Moreno Valley human trafficking case

Five Northern California residents accused ofabducting an 18-year-old woman, assaulting her and attempting to force her towork as a prostitute in Moreno Valley were charged today with multiplefelonies.

Ibrahim A. Binhajjyahyaabdulma, 25, his brother, Khalid A.Binhajjyahyaabdulma, 23, Ana Karen Ceja, 20, Abubakr Horrington, 32, and JerryJermaine Landers, 21 — all from the San Jose area — were scheduled to maketheir initial court appearances this afternoon at the Riverside Hall ofJustice.

Each defendant is charged with human trafficking and attempted pimping.The Binhajjyahyaabdulma brothers and Landers are additionally charged withkidnapping to commit rape, while Horrington and Khalid Binhajjyahyaabdulma arealso charged with forced oral copulation.

The younger Binhajjyahyaabdulma, who according to jail records is aparolee, was being held without bail at the Smith Correctional Facility inBanning. His brother and Horrington were each being held in lieu of $1 millionbail at the same facility.

Landers was being held there in lieu of $50,000 bail, while Ceja wasbeing held in lieu of $25,000 bail at the Robert Presley Jail in Riverside. The defendants were taken into custody Friday following a RiversideCounty sheriff’s investigation that originated at the Best Western Motel in the24800 block of Elder Avenue in Moreno Valley.

According to sheriff’s Sgt. John Sawyer, deputies were called to thelocation around 5 p.m. Friday to investigate reports of a disturbance andencountered an 18-year-old Compton woman who alleged she had been abducted atgunpoint by the defendants sometime Thursday.

The defendants were in the process of trying to flee the motel parkinglot when deputies arrested them, Sawyer said.

According to the sergeant, the woman, whose identity was not disclosed,alleged that the defendants drove her to an unknown area, where she wassexually assaulted. She said that after the assault, the defendants told hershe would be working for them as a prostitute.

“The suspects drove the victim to Moreno Valley, where they rented amotel room for these prostitution acts to occur,” Sawyer alleged. “At somepoint before the prostitution acts began, the suspects became distracted,providing the victim with the opportunity to flee and summon help.”

Investigators with the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking TaskForce were called in to take over the investigation.