South Bay chicken & waffles restauranteur arrested on child sex trafficking charges

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FILE - Handcuffs sitting on a table. (Bernd Wüstneck/picture alliance via Getty Image)

SAN JOSE, Calif. - A South Bay man was arrested this week on charges of allegedly sex-trafficking a minor who was previously reported missing, officials say.

Ibrahim Abdul-Alim Bin Hajj Yahya Abdul-Malik, 37, of San Jose was arrested in California on Monday, according to the U.S. Attorney's office District of Massachusetts.

Business records show Malik owns Ibrahim's Halal Chicken and Waffles in downtown San Jose.

The victim, a girl, was reported missing from her Ohio home in August 2024.

Undercover operation

The backstory:

Federal officials said law enforcement became aware that a 17-year-old victim was being advertised for commercial sex acts online on Dec. 11. On that day, law enforcement carried out an undercover operation where they responded to the advertisements that included photos of the minor and a phone number to arrange sexual encounters.

A meeting for sex-for-pay was arranged at a hotel in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Law enforcement officials confiscated the minor's phone as evidence. Investigators said that Malik advertised the victim as a 20-year-old to avoid being a red flag for authorities.

Investigators said Malik had been advertising the victim online for commercial sex acts in more than one state starting in Nov. 2024.

Evidence from the victim's phone connected Malik to the child-sex-trafficking crimes.

It is alleged he would collect payment from the victim through a Zelle account he controlled and kept the profits for himself.

Following the undercover operation, authorities said Malik fled Massachusetts on a flight from Boston to San Jose on Dec. 12, 2024.

"The charge of sex trafficking of children carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison, at least five years and up to a lifetime of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000," federal prosecutors said in a news release.

Malik has already made his first court appearance in the Northern District of California. He is expected to appear in a federal court in Boston at a later date, officials said.

The Source: U.S. Attorney's Office District of Massachusetts and public records obtained through a California Secretary of State business search

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