Philadelphia man sentenced on illicit sexual conduct charges
33-year-old man entered into what he claimed was an Islamic marriage with a minor
PHILADELPHIA - A local man was sentenced Thursday to 97 months in prison on three counts of engaging in illicit sexual conduct in foreign places between 2004 and 2007. The joint investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.
According to court records, in 2004, Omar Rashaad Bey, 33, entered into what he claimed was an Islamic marriage with a 14-year old girl in Philadelphia. He did not obtain a marriage license, nor did he obtain court permission to do so, as Pennsylvania law required. He then took the girl to Egypt, where she lived with him, at times alone, while he studied. She became pregnant and gave birth to a child in Egypt. While in Egypt, Bey had an affair with the girl's older sister. In 2006 he entered into another union, purporting to be an Islamic marriage, with a 15-year old girl.
The girl was located in Philadelphia while Bey was still in Egypt. The Islamic marriage ceremony took place via the Internet in a video hookup. Bey later took his latest "bride" to Cairo, Egypt, to engage in a sexual relationship. There was no marriage license for this marriage either, and Bey had not divorced his first "wife" at the time. She also had a child while in Egypt.
In addition to the prison term, U.S. District Court Judge Jan E. DuBois also ordered Bey to pay a $2,500 fine, serve 10 years of supervised release, and register as a sex offender.
This investigation was part of Operation Predator, a nationwide ICE initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders, and child sex traffickers. ICE encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-DHS-2ICE. This hotline is staffed around the clock by investigators.
Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, at 1-800-843-5678 or http://www.cybertipline.com.
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