SAN JOSE — The owner of a San Jose restaurant has been arrested on federal charges, alleging that he somehow ended up with a girl who ran away from her home in Ohio, and that he trafficked her around the United States.
Ibrahim Abdul-Alim Bin Hajj Yahya Abdul-Malik was charged with sex trafficking of children, a federal crime that carries a minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison. He was arrested in the Bay Area earlier this month, but the case was filed in Boston, where authorities allegedly conducted a sting operation.
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The girl, who authorities say was 17 at the time, was rescued after the December operation. But police got word last week that she’d returned to California and was with Abdul-Malik again, according to the criminal complaint.
Abdul-Malik owns Ibrahim’s Halal Chicken and Waffles, a downtown San Jose restaurant whose listed business number appears to also be a telephone that was used in the alleged crimes. The number went straight to voicemail and requests for comment were not returned.
Abdul-Malik was advised of the charges and remanded to custody at a Tuesday court appearance, records show.
The criminal complaint alleges that federal authorities in Massachusetts responded to an online prostitution ad featuring the 17-year-old girl, then detained her after she showed up at a hotel room where she’d planned to meet the undercover agent. From the girl’s phone, authorities reportedly found extensive conversations with Abdul-Malik where they discussed prostitution transactions and pricing.
In some conversations, Abdul-Malik allegedly double-checked to make sure the girl had condoms, and said he had “changed the age” on prostitution ads to 20, the complaint alleges. Authorities say they found evidence of sex trafficking in Pennsylvania as well as Massachusetts, and transactions indicated Abdul-Malik rented cars and booked flights for the girl as she traveled around the country.
The girl ran away from her home in Ohio last August, was found by police in Los Angeles last October, then showed up on a prostitution ad in the Boston area in December, authorities said. The conversations between the girl and Abdul-Malik go back to at least Nov. 13, 2024, the complaint alleges.
