SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) - A man convicted of running a house that preyed on vulnerable girls and young women was sentenced Monday to life in prison on sex trafficking charges.
Mohammed Sharif Alaboudi, who lived in the upstairs apartment of the house two blocks from downtown Sioux Falls, drew in homeless, addicted teens looking for food, shelter and drugs, said U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson. The victims ranged in age from 14 to the mid-twenties.
Alaboudi kept his victims high on drugs and alcohol while forcing them to engage in sex acts with strangers who dropped by the house and paid Alaboudi with drugs and money, Johnson said during a news conference Monday.
“Mr. Alaboudi’s house of horrors is closed,” he said.
Johnson said that victims who refused to participate were punished by being beaten and raped.
Alaboudi in December was convicted of one count of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a child, one count of sex trafficking of a child and two counts of sex trafficking by means of force, fraud or coercion. Judge Karen Schreier on Monday morning gave Alaboudi four concurrent life sentences on the charges.
Investigators were able to break the case with the help of a 14-year-old girl who was scared but went to police, Johnson said.
An attorney for Alaboudi did not immediately return a call seeking comment after Monday’s hearing.
Sioux Falls Police Chief Doug Barthel said authorities are also looking to arrest people seeking out sex with underage girls. He said they often try to hide behind a computer using online sites such as Craigslist and Backpage.com to commit their crimes.
“Our goal is to eliminate the demand for that business,” Barthel said.
South Dakota in 2013 received the lowest score in annual state ratings from the Polaris Project, which tracks the presence or absence of 10 categories of state statutes believed to be critical to a comprehensive anti-trafficking legal framework. Federal, state and local officials have been addressing the problem in recent years.
South Dakota Attorney General Marty Jackley said the 2014 state Legislature passed two laws to help combat sex trafficking.
One law establishes a procedure to forfeit personal property in child pornography, human trafficking, child solicitation or exploitation cases, and to direct money toward preventive efforts and victims. Another will allow human trafficking victims to file lawsuits against a perpetrator.
“South Dakota is off limits for human trafficking and crimes against children,” Jackley said.
A co-conspirator in the Alaboudi case, Emmanuel Nyuon, was sentenced to 30 years in prison in July, though Nyuon has appealed. Prosecutors say that Nyuon and Alaboudi were in business together.
South Dakota has seen several other high-profile sex trafficking cases, and local, state and federal law enforcement officers are working hard to combat the nationwide problem, Johnson said.
“We still in South Dakota have people looking to profit off of the sex trade,” Johnson said.
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