The five suspects – including three men from Gilroy – accused of kidnapping a woman last week in the area of Compton, sexually assaulting her and threatening to force her into prostitution were arraigned Wednesday in the Hall of Justice in Riverside, according to a press release from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office.
All entered pleas of not guilty and denied the allegations against them, according to Senior Public Information Specialist John Hall with the Riverside DA’s Office. A felony settlement conference and bail review hearing will take place Friday morning for the accused, all of whom are still in custody.
The suspects are Khalid Binhajjyahyaabdulmalik, 23; Abubakr Horrington, 32; and Jerry Landers, 21; from Gilroy, along with Ibrahim Binhajjyahyaabdulmalik, 25; and Ana Ceja, 20; of San Jose.
All five are charged with human trafficking and attempted pimping.
The four men face additional charges of kidnap for the purpose of rape and a weapons enhancement. Gilroy suspects Horrington and Khalid are charged with forced oral copulation in concert and Horrington is also charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm.
If convicted as currently charged, the four men each face a potential life sentence and Ceja faces 20 years in prison.
Horington’s bail has been set at $1,075,000; the bail for the other three men is $1 million; and Ceja’s bail is $500,000, according to Hall.
One of the suspects is former Gavilan College football player Jerry Landers, whose criminal past with the local police department stretches back several years.
In November 2011, a then 19-year-old Landers made local headlines when he and a 16-year-old girl were arrested following reports of a gunshot outside a house party on the 7000 block of Orchard Drive, where some Gavilan College student-athletes were partying. A total of eight Gavilan football players were suspended as a result of the party – where there was fighting, the firing of a gun and alcohol served to minors – leading the college to forfeit from an upcoming game. Landers, a freshman wide receiver who at the time lived at the residence where the party was held, was dismissed from the team and arrested for obstruction and contributing to the delinquency of a minor, according to the GPD.
Most recently, Landers was on the GPD’s “Most Wanted” list for possession of marijuana over an ounce. His bail was set at $15,000 and his last known address was on the 400 block of Old Gilroy Street. He was previously arrested April 9 near the intersection of Murray and IOOF avenues for possession of marijuana/hash for sale, according to the GPD arrest log.
Khalid and Ibrahim also attended Gavilan for a short period of time in 2010 and 2011. Landers, who was only on the football team for three weeks before being dismissed, was last enrolled in fall 2012, according to Public Information Officer Jan Bernstein-Chargin with Gavilan.
Late Aug. 15 or early Aug. 16, police say Landers, along with the other four Gilroy and San Jose suspects, were reportedly armed with a semi-automatic handgun when they kidnapped an 18-year-old female victim and drove her to an undisclosed location, where she was sexually assaulted by Gilroy suspects Horrington and Khalid.
The victim’s identity is being withheld by authorities.
Police say “the victim was then told (that the suspects) were going to force her to conduct prostitution for money.”
The young woman was driven to a hotel in Moreno Valley where her alleged kidnappers had “rented a hotel room for these prostitution acts to occur,” according to police.
Before the prostitution acts began, however, the suspects became distracted and the victim had a chance to flee and summon help, according to police. At about 4:44 p.m. Aug. 16, officers from the Moreno Valley Police Department received a report of a disturbance at the hotel, located at 24800 Elder Ave. Authorities arrived at the scene and were able to stop the suspects as they attempted to flee in their vehicle, the press release states. All five suspects were taken into custody and booked into the Robert Presley Detention Center in Riverside.
