A man from Brooklyn, known by his aliases “Sugar Bear” and “Daddy,” has confessed to the brutal murder of his girlfriend, whom he also exploited as a prostitute. Somorie Moses, 47, admitted to dismembering his girlfriend, Leondra Foster, and storing her severed head in his freezer. He now faces a potential life sentence for his heinous crimes, which also include sex trafficking of eight women.
Moses pleaded guilty to a 10-count indictment on Friday, which included charges of sex trafficking and murder in the course of sex trafficking. The charges stem from the gruesome killing of Foster on January 12, 2017. Moses is due to be sentenced on January 8, with a minimum mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison, but potentially facing life behind bars.
Prior to these charges, Moses had already been convicted of negligent homicide and concealment of a corpse in relation to Foster’s death by a Brooklyn state court jury in 2019. However, he was acquitted of murder at that time. He served a prison sentence of four to eight years and was set to be paroled in May 2022 before being re-arrested on the new charge of murder in the course of sex trafficking.
Prosecutors allege that Moses killed Foster, who was 32 and one of his sex trafficking victims, and then dismembered her body in their shared Brooklyn apartment. Four days after the murder, Moses disposed of Foster’s torso and limbs at a Bronx sanitation site. Her head, hands, and feet, including a foot bearing a tattoo of Moses’ name, were later discovered in his freezer.
In addition to the murder, Moses has been accused of forcing women and girls into the sex trade as early as 2003. Prosecutors claim he used threats, violence, and manipulation to control them. He reportedly deceived the women into believing he loved them, even promising marriage, before forcing them into prostitution. He also allegedly coerced the women into tattooing his name on their bodies.
Moses’ violent tactics reportedly included beatings, rape, and torture. He threatened to kill the women if they did not comply with his demands. In one instance, he used a taser on a woman who refused to become a call girl and threatened another woman and her child with a shotgun if she did not agree to become a sex worker.
In a particularly brutal incident, Moses slashed one of his victims with a razor blade and beat her with a belt. He then poured lemon juice on her wounds, leaving her with permanent scars.
“While the defendant’s total admission of guilt 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,” said Brooklyn US Attorney Breon Peace in a statement.
Moses’ legal representatives have yet to comment on the case.