TEXAS – A man has been arrested for allegedly kidnapping a woman who claims she has been held captive in his garage for about four or five years, according to court documents reviewed by ESB.
Lee Carter, 52, was arrested on Thursday, nearly nine months after police responded to a Houston, Texas home after the victim contacted 911, according to Harris County court records.
He has been identified as a Houston-area rapper who also goes by the name ‘Viper’.
How she kidnapped Carter
The victim, identified as Verenice Lopez Rivera in a criminal complaint, claimed she met Carter about four or five years ago when she was panhandling in Houston, Texas.
Carter allegedly gave her $1 before offering to help her as she was pregnant, according to the complaint.
He lured her to his home
When she accepted his offer, he allegedly drove her to his home and locked her up in his garage – starting off years of alleged abuse, including forcing her to take drugs and have sex with him, the complaint states.
It wasn’t immediately clear from the complaint what became of her pregnancy.
When responding to the April 911 call, authorities found the garage with a ‘makeshift toilet that did not flush,’ a mattress ‘covered with fresh vomit’ and a shelf with diapers, among other items, the complaint states.
How she was freed
Rivera allegedly made attempts to contact authorities by using a free text messaging application, the complaint states, but she was taken to the hospital on a few occasions and eventually released in Carter’s care.
He also allegedly threatened her with physical assault when she begged him to let her go, and often forced her to take drugs, including cocaine, which made her ‘physically unable to leave the location,’ according to the complaint.
On at least one occasion when authorities were at Carter’s residence, she was able to escape breaking a garage window, but she was taken to the hospital and eventually returned to Carter, per the complaint.
What Carter told a witness
Following the incident, Carter allegedly boarded up the windows and told a neighbor that he was doing so in order to prevent her from escaping, the document states.
Statement from witness
The neighbor, Jedediah Beights, told authorities at the time that Carter had allegedly told him that he had residences around Texas where he ‘kept women’ and that the women he kept locked inside were ‘ungrateful’ because they wanted ‘more food and drugs,’ according to the complaint.
Beights also claimed to authorities that even though he suspected there was some potential ‘human trafficking deal’ or pornographic activities taking place inside Carter’s residence, he assumed authorities would look into it, according to the complaint.
Carter is being held on $100,000 bond, court records show. Carter will be pleading not guilty, according to his attorney George Powell.
