Local News

OAKLAND (BCN) ― Your Black Muslim Bakery leader Yusuf Bey IV, already facing a possible life in prison sentence on kidnapping and torture charges, also was recently charged with 12 felony counts for an alleged real estate scam, according to court records.

The Alameda County District Attorney's office has charged Bey, 21, the son of Your Black Muslim Bakery founder Yusuf Bey, with real estate fraud, forgery, grand theft, filing false documents, obtaining money under false pretenses, possession of a forged driver's license and identity theft.

The charges were filed Aug. 7, the same day Bey and two other bakery associates were charged with kidnapping, torture and false imprisonment for a May 17 incident in which two women allegedly were victimized.

Oakland police also have said they think Bey was involved in the Aug. 2 shooting death of veteran Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey, who has worked on stories critical of the bakery, an Oakland institution that started operating in 1968.

However, Bey hasn't been charged for that incident. The only person charged is 19-year-old bakery handyman Devaughndre Broussard, who is charged with murdering Bailey.

According to a probable cause statement filed in Alameda County Superior Court, Bey used the fictitious name of Yasir Human to buy property at 2514 61st Ave. in Oakland on June 7, 2006.

The statement says Bey used that name to secure two deeds of trust from CIT Group, one for $440,000 and one for $110,000.

The statement also alleges that Bey obtained a false driver's license by obtaining information from a legitimate driver.

Bey, who was arrested in a massive police raid at the bakery on Aug. 3, is being held without bail on the kidnapping charges and has a separate $130,000 bail on the real estate fraud case.

But Bey had managed to avoid a lengthy stay in custody before then despite a long list of criminal cases throughout the Bay Area.

When he was arrested, Bey initially was held on a $375,000 warrant out of San Francisco stemming from a case in which he faces three counts of assault with a deadly weapon for allegedly trying to use his BMW to run down several bouncers after being thrown out of the New Century Theater, a strip club on Larkin Street, on April 28, 2006.

According to San Francisco Chief Assistant District Attorney Russ Giuntini, a San Francisco judge issued a bench warrant for Bey on July 12 after he failed to appear at a pretrial hearing. Bey's trial in San Francisco is scheduled to begin on Friday, he said.

Bey and four other defendants also face charges that they vandalized two West Oakland liquor stores on Nov. 23, 2005, because they didn't want the stores to be selling alcohol in the black community.

Two other defendants in the case pleaded no contest to felony vandalism last year and have been sentenced. Charges were dropped against two other defendants because of a lack of evidence.

The preliminary hearing for Bey and the other four remaining defendants, which began in the spring, is scheduled to resume on Aug. 28.

Bey also faces four felony charges in Solano County for allegedly fraudulently obtaining a car on Oct. 14, 2005, by using someone else's identification to get credit to buy the vehicle.

In addition, Bey faces four other unrelated cases in Alameda County: felony vehicle theft and misdemeanor charges of petty theft, resisting arrest and vehicle theft.

Bey and co-defendants Joshua Bey, 20, who's his brother, and Tamon Halfin, 21, are scheduled to appear in Alameda County Superior Court on Wednesday to finalize their legal representation and possibly enter pleas to the kidnapping charges.

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