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A Michigan man who filed his teeth into fangs to intimidate human trafficking victims has been accused of ordering various “generals” to do his bidding, including kidnapping women.
Michael Barajas, 36, who is seen sporting multiple facial tattoos in his Genesee County Sheriff’s Office mugshot, is accused of building a human trafficking ring called the ‘Massad Squad.’
“He would tell the victim, ‘I’m going to rip your throat out if you don’t do what I tell you to do and you don’t comply,'” Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson said. It is domain. It’s a kidnapping. It’s grooming.
Two of his ‘generals’ were recently arrested and since then law enforcement officers have filed 20 new charges against the leader of the ring who allegedly held a 20-year-old woman while she was raped by men inside a house for two weeks.
Michael Barajas, 36, is accused of building a people-trafficking gang called the ‘Massad Squad’
The man filed his teeth to intimidate his victims, police said
During a recent press conference, Genesee County Sheriff Chris Swanson shared shocking details about how the kidnapped 20-year-old woman was abused by the fanged criminal and his gang of accomplices.
“I knew this serial monster was bad, but I didn’t realize it was as bad as what I’m going to tell you today,” Swanson said Tuesday.
Swanson said that Barajas around Thanksgiving sent an accomplice Alex Matthew Schmidt, 23, and another man in a yellow Hummer to look for women who were ‘vulnerable’.
While searching, the couple found a Woman in her 20s walking on the road near Flint.
Swanson said the couple offered the woman a warm place to stay, a shower and food.
“These are the basic needs of an individual,” Swanson said. It is the basic hygiene that he needed so much. That was the toilet hook they used.’
Ropes were found where the woman was being held inside the Flint home.
This is the house where the group was holding the victim
The men took the woman back to a house on Marmion Avenue in Flint, where Barajas was waiting.
Swanson said Barajas had not been at the house but fully orchestrated the kidnapping.
Barajas had trained the ‘generals’ to go looking for vulnerable women and bring them back to the ‘Massad Squad’ human trafficking headquarters, police said.
“The term ‘Massad Squad’ was, I’m sure, in his mind, something he was trying to create to form a trade in the sex industry,” Swanson said.
The woman tried several times to escape from the residence
Officials found the house in complete disarray.
These are some of the things that officials found inside the house
The group bolted the windows of the house.
After the woman was returned to the Flint home, the victim was raped by men while Barajas and his ‘generals’ held her down.
The group of men would use rope or other items, Swanson said.
The sheriff went on to say that the men would often force her to put a pacifier in her mouth and call them ‘dad’ or put a gun to her head.
“Barajas pointed (a gun) at our victim’s head and said, ‘If you don’t do this, I’m going to kill you,'” Swanson said during the recent press conference.
It was during these attacks that Barajas would use his sharp teeth to intimidate the woman, threatening to slit her throat.
These are two of Barajas’ accomplices, according to law enforcement
The woman was held inside the house for two weeks.
He eventually escaped from the Flint home after going to the hospital for a medical emergency.
Throughout the two weeks that she was at the home, the woman tried to escape several times without success.
The group of men had barricaded and closed the doors and bolted down the windows.
During her first attempt, the woman was able to get out the front door and run down the street before she was tackled and dragged back.
She ran out the door and as she ran down the street she was shot and tackled. In fact, she stabbed Barajas at one point. They dragged her back,” Swanson said.
In another attempt, the woman made it to a nearby McDonald’s before Barajas and the other men found her.
Inside, they allegedly threatened her with death if she made any statement.
“He came back a second time against his will,” Swanson said.
The victim was finally rescued on December 8 when she had a medical emergency and was rescued at the hospital.
The house where the group held the woman was raided and Barajas arrested, the man was accused of kidnapping, criminal sexual conduct and assault with a dangerous weapon. His first bond was set at $250,000.
After the initial story broke, another victim came forward in January, accusing Barajas of attacking her when she was just four years old.
“At age 4, she was put in a situation because of her connection as the daughter of an adult to the Barajas adult family,” Swanson said. “Almost the same type of threats, the same type of intimidation and the same type of sexual assault.
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The alleged assaults occurred up to five times a week between 2003 and 2007.
“It was only because that adult relationship broke down that she was rescued and removed from the situation, never to tell her story until January 3, 2023,” Swanson said.
Now, officials are looking for additional victims to come forward, calling it a “serial monster” and saying it “hasn’t stopped attacking” randomly for 15 years.
“His torture and his nightmare ended in 2007. So from 2007 to 2022, when we arrive, how many other victims are there on that timeline?”
Swanson said she “knows” there are more victims and encourages them to contact the proper authorities.
There was a board over a window in the house.
This is the lock on the door where the woman was detained
The 20 new felony charges filed against Barajas include 10 counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, as well as intimidation, bribery and weapons offenses.
If convicted, Barajas faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
He is currently being held without bail.
“The brutality, the appearance, the intimidation – I haven’t seen anything like it,” Swanson said.
Alex Matthew Schmidt, 23, and Jojuan Najee Howze, 33, were arrested as members of the human trafficking operation.
Schmidt has been charged with first degree kidnapping and sexual assault.
Authorities have referred to Howze as a “participant in a violent sex ring” and he has been charged with kidnapping and four counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct.
Police are still looking for two more men, including Cody Lohrer, who had important information in the case.
Police are still looking for two more men, including Cody Lohrer, who had important information in the case.
“We have to find him,” Swanson said. You have information that is critical to this case. It has information that I know, as an active participant. At this time, since there are no formal charges, he is a person of interest. But we’re going to find him, and we’re going to find Lil Ryan too.
Lil Ryan is the street name of the other man wanted by police in this case.
“I’ll tell you this: if you took advantage of any of these women, or any other woman or man in a sex slave ring, we will find you,” Swanson said.
“You can try to hide it from your families, your friends, you can try to put different names on your phones with different profiles and try to ghost apps, we will find you,” the sheriff said.