A married couple was accused Wednesday of trafficking several women for sex in New York City, including two victims who were placed in the wife’s foster care and later pimped out by her husband, prosecutors alleged.
Kareem “Napoleon” Mitchell, 38, and Sharice Mitchell, 51, appeared in Manhattan Supreme Court on an indictment charging them with sex-trafficking and conspiracy for the sick scheme, which allegedly began in 2018 and lasted until their arrests.
At least eight women were allegedly forced by the depraved duo to engage in prostitution in cars and hotels around the city, according to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.
An ex-con and registered sex-offender, Kareem is accused of physically abusing and threatening the women to get them to comply, sending them text messages like: “Yeah I like b—-s that’s in pocket. That know they place.”
“I’m going to pop you in the face, you dumb b—-. Get in the car,” he allegedly said to one woman before he was arrested Wednesday.
As part of the twisted operation, Kareem recruited young women to work for him via social media and regularly posted photos to show off his “pimp lifestyle,” Assistant District Attorney Lauren Breen said.
In December 2018, Kareem posted an online prostitution ad for a woman identified as “Individual #1” — who his wife agreed to foster the following month, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors said Sharice would go on to foster a second alleged victim, “Individual #2,” who was placed in her care in January 2020.
“Prostitution advertisements were posted less than one month after her placement with the defendant,” Breen said about one of the foster daughters.
Sharice allegedly lied to the State Office of Children and Family Services on her application, claiming she had no contact with Kareem and that no registered sex-offenders lived in her home. She was “complicit in her husband’s sex-trafficking operation and assisted him in his enterprise,” Breen said.
Kareem spent five years in prison on a 2008 federal sex-crimes conviction involving a minor, prosecutors noted.
Prosecutors did not reveal the ages of the alleged victims, saying only that one was 24 and that none were minors. In New York City, individuals can remain in foster care until the age of 21.
The indictment was the result of a nine-month-long investigation involving physical surveillance and a trove of records from Instagram, Facebook, CashApp and Zelle, prosecutors said.
“Sex traffickers target the most vulnerable New Yorkers, including – far too often – young New Yorkers in the child welfare system,” said District Attorney Alvin Bragg. “We will continue to prioritize proactive investigations like these to dismantle sex trafficking operations and keep New Yorkers safe.”
Kareem was arrested in what Breen described as a “known prostitution area,” with $2,500 on him. Authorities found $4,000 in a hotel room where he had been staying.
He appeared in court wearing a black jacket with a green bedazzled skull on the back and a T-shirt that read “Make money not friends.”
His wife was busted in her Bronx apartment, where investigators found a semi-automatic firearm that Kareem had allegedly taken a photo of and sent to someone who rejected his advances, Breen said.
Both husband and wife pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors asked that they each be held without bail. But Sharice’s defense attorney, Robert Levy, argued: “The fact is that she had two foster kids. That’s it. That was the allegation.”
Justice Felicia Mennin remanded Kareem, who faces up to 100 years in prison if convicted of all counts, without bail. She set bail for Sharice, who faces 75 years in prison, at $500,000.
“I love you,” a young woman seated in the courtroom yelled out as the pair were hauled away.
The woman, who gave her name as Geraldine, tearfully expressed her support for the couple after the hearing, saying she believed they were innocent.
“They just make everything sound so much worse,” she said of the prosecutors.
