Somorie Moses coerced women into prostitution with lies, beatings and threats, prosecutors say
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Somorie Moses, a longtime pimp known for his "extreme violence," has admitted to murdering his prostitute girlfriend and sex trafficking eight other women, per the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of New York.
On Jan. 13, 2017, prosecutors said, Moses beat Leondra Foster, 32, to death in their shared apartment, and then used a saw and knife to dismember her body. Four days later, he disposed of her torso and limbs at a Bronx, New York, sanitation site.
The severed head, hands and feet of Foster – including a foot with the name "Somorie" tattooed on it – were subsequently discovered by police in a deep freezer at Moses' Brooklyn home.
Moses, 47, pleaded guilty on Sept. 15. He was previously convicted of concealment of a corpse and criminally negligent homicide – but acquitted on murder charges – in a Brooklyn state court in 2019.
Somorie Moses appears in State Supreme Court, Brooklyn, New York, Sept. 9, 2019. Although he was only found guilty of criminally negligent homicide and concealment of a corpse in this trial and would have been eligible for parole in May 2022, he was rearrested on federal charges, and pleaded guilty to murder in the course of sex trafficking – the first conviction using this new federal statute – last Friday. (Jesse Ward for New York Daily News )
If he was not rearrested by the feds on the charge of murder in the course of sex trafficking – the first time use of a new federal statute, per the USAO – he would have been eligible for parole in May 2022.
In his previous court case, Moses admitted to cutting apart Foster's remains but claimed he did not kill her. He did testify on the stand that he had earned money as a "pimp" for two decades and had "smacked [Foster] around," giving her "many… black eyes."
Since Moses' state trial, federal investigators found two individuals ready to testify that the pimp confessed Foster's murder to them, per court documents.
"With [Friday's] guilty plea to every count in the indictment, Moses is held fully responsible for preying on women and girls, forcing them to become prostitutes, and then brutally murdering and dismembering one of his many victims," U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York Breon Peace wrote in the press release.
"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."
Moses – also known as "Somorie Barfield," "Sugar Bear," "Bear" and "Daddy" – now faces a sentence of 15 years to life in prison.
Somori Moses, 47, pictured in his listing on the New York sex offender registry. Since at least 2003, federal prosecutors said, Moses used brutal beatings, rape, torture and threats to coerce women into prostitution for his benefit. (New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services)
Since at least 2003, Moses pressured many of his victims to tattoo his name on their bodies, "forc[ing] women and girls, including minors, into prostitution for his benefit using violence, threats of violence and psychological manipulation," prosecutors said
"Moses used false premises of love and marriage to initiate sexual relationships with his victims before demanding they work as prostitutes and turn over the money they earned to him," per the USAO press release.
When one of Moses' victims tried to quit prostitution, per court documents obtained by Fox News Digital, he tortured her with a Taser until she relented.
Another woman was slashed about the arms and back and beaten with a belt before Moses doused her with lemon juice, leaving her with permanent scarring.
A third woman was beaten with an extension cord, per the documents, before Moses threatened to rub salt on her wounds.
TEEN KICKED OUT OF HOUSE BY DAD IS KIDNAPPED ON STREETS, FORCED INTO SEX SLAVERY: PROSECUTOR
In addition to beating Leondra Foster to death and dismembering her body, Somorie Moses, pictured here, tortured one woman with a Taser, poured lemon juice into the wounds of another woman he inflicted with a razor and beat another woman with an extension cord. (New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services)
Moses allegedly held a loaded gun in the mouth of a fourth woman who wanted to stop working as a prostitute, threatening to kill her and her child.
Many of his victims "expressed significant concerns for their safety" before Moses was brought up on new federal charges, prosecutors said.
Per his listing on the New York sex offender registry, Moses was convicted on felony charges for attempted promotion of prostitution and profiting from prostitution of a person under 16.
He spent a stint at New York's Wyoming Correctional Facility in Attica between May 2007 and December 2009 for those charges, according to the New York State Department of Justice. Moses served another prison sentence at the Gouverneur Correctional Facility between September 2012 and January 2016 for criminal possession of a weapon.
"Today’s guilty plea brings finality to a case of reprehensible sexual exploitation, brutal assault, and murder," NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban said in the press release. "I commend and thank our dedicated NYPD detectives, along with our partners in the FBI and the office of the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, for their commitment to investigating and prosecuting this important case."
Fox News Digital could not reach Michael Bachrach, Moses' attorney, for comment at press time.
Christina Coulter is a U.S. and World reporter for Fox News Digital. Email story tips to
