Man accused of sex trafficking fails to appear in court in Smith County

TYLER, Texas (KLTV) – A man accused of trafficking women for prostitution in Tyler was scheduled to appear in Smith County court Friday, but failed to show up.

Judge Debbie Gunter of the 241st District Court signed an arrest warrant for Kareem Muhammad, 37, of Mansfield, Texas, for failure to appear in court. He was scheduled to appear in court on charges of human trafficking, promoting prostitution and drug possession.

Muhammad was arrested in Tyler in April 2023. The probable cause affidavit stated that on April 22, a Smith County patrol officer spotted a white Chrysler 300 in front of her marked patrol car on NNW Loop 323. She stopped the car because the license plate light was not working.

The driver of the car was Kareem Muhammad. He had a woman in the vehicle. According to the affidavit, the officer spoke to each of them individually. The woman assured the officer that she was safe and not being acted upon by Muhammad, although the officer had noticed indications to the contrary and questioned her about it.

Ultimately, both were released from the traffic control.

Muhammad was later stopped again by another officer in the area of ​​NNW Loop 323 and Highway 69. Muhammad was observed making multiple U-turns and entering and exiting motel parking lots before heading eastbound onto the Loop. However, when the officer attempted to pull him over, he complied.

The woman was still with him, the affidavit states. When the first deputy asked to speak to her again, the woman demanded to be handcuffed so Muhammad would think she was being arrested and would not talk to deputies about him. She then told the deputy she was not sure, that he was actually abducting her, and that she feared for her life. She gave the deputy hundreds of text messages that allegedly showed Kareem sending men for “dates” to the hotel room he rented at a North Tyler motel and taking her and other women to various cities, including Dallas, Austin and Houston, to do the same thing. The messages also suggested that other men were working with Muhammad to abduct the women.

The woman said Muhammad kept track of their whereabouts using the Life 360 ​​app and limited the amount of cash they were allowed to carry. When stopped, he was found to have $4,913 in cash, according to the affidavit, and the woman told the officer some of it was money she received from men for sex acts. Kareem would keep the money, she said.

Muhammad was booked into the Smith County Jail on April 22, 2023. He was charged with human trafficking, promoting prostitution with a prior conviction, and possession of a dangerous rug. His bail was set at $105,000. He was released from jail on bail four days later on April 26.

The affidavit states that Kareem had previously been arrested in San Diego for “human trafficking” and “pimping.”

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