OAKLAND — A woman’s discreet call to a Union City hotel employee in December 2021 describing how her pimp was holding her against her will led to human trafficking, pimping and pandering charges being filed against the 38-year-old man.
Christopher Card was subsequently released from jail via an electronic monitoring program but he’s back in custody now after prosecutors filed new felony charges alleging he beat his grandmother’s 71-year-old caretaker.
The charges stem from a dispute about another family receiving power of attorney over their grandmother, court records show.
At a June court appearance for the human trafficking case, Card refused to come out of his cell, and his attorney formally declared a doubt over Card’s mental competency. The legal maneuver means two psychiatrists must now evaluate Card and turn their report over to a judge by July 28, court records show.
Card, an Emeryville resident who also goes by Samir Haseen, has filed a motion for a new attorney, according to court records.
The initial charges against Card were filed after his alleged victim, known as “Jane Doe 1” in court records, called an Extended Stay hotel employee to report she was being held against her will. When Union City police responded, the woman told investigators that she met Card two months earlier at an airport in Arizona, and that he offered her modeling jobs but instead coerced her into prostitution.
At Card’s preliminary hearing last year, Doe 1 testified that she was scared to disobey Card because she didn’t know anyone in California and was unfamiliar with her whereabouts. When prosecutors asked how many “dates” she was required to have, she said he made her “cram in as many as I possibly could in one day.” He made her turn the money over to him via electronic apps, she testified.
Another count of human trafficking of a minor was added when authorities discovered a second alleged victim, a teen girl who was also allegedly trafficked by several other Bay Area pimps, according to court records.
Card denied the allegations in a police interview, authorities said.
The new allegations are similar to Doe 1’s statements to police. The caretaker told police that Card became enraged, punched her in the face and told her she wasn’t allowed to leave the grandmother’s residence. She escaped by climbing out of a bedroom window and calling police, authorities said in court records.
In early June, prosecutors charged Card with assault and false imprisonment, both felonies, court records show.
Source: www.mercurynews.com