The alleged ringleader of a three-year sex-trafficking operation in Anchorage pleaded not guilty this morning to charges that could send him to federal prison for the rest of his life.
Sabil Mumin Mujahid, 52, already in jail on a federal conviction in June as a three-time felon in possession of a Smith & Wesson .44 magnum handgun, was ordered held without bond by U.S. Magistrate Judge Deborah Smith.
Two other defendants in the sex-trafficking case, Sidney Lamar Greene, 30, and Rand Hooks, 50, pleaded not guilty Friday. Police and FBI are searching for the fourth person in the alleged conspiracy, 21-year-old Keyana "Koko" Marshall.
Federal prosecutors on Friday charged the four in a 41-count indictment with conspiring to run a prostitution ring that used at least three underaged girls and 17 women, with additional women who remain unidentified. They operated under escort services named "Northern Exposures" and "Seductions."
Mujahid and Greene were also charged with possessing child pornography, tax fraud and identity theft.
During his arraignment, Mujahid asked Smith to appoint an attorney, saying he was too broke to afford one. Smith briefly ordered the courtroom emptied of prosecutors and spectators so she could question Mujahid in private, then resumed the public session by announcing that Federal Public Defender Richard Curtner would represent Mujahid, as he did in the weapons case.
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