Yusuf Bey molestation/murder?

By Dan Noyes, Chauncey Bailey Project

The I-Team’s been working on tonight’s investigation with members of the Chauncey Bailey Project

Bailey was the editor of the Oakland Post who was probing Your Black Muslim Bakery’s finances, before he was gunned down on his way to work last August. Reporters from several organizations are picking up where Bailey left off, and we’re glad to help out.

The story tonight is based on sworn testimony from one of the women who used to live with Bey. Jane Doe Number One says Yusuf Bey, who founded the bakery, first molested her when she was eight; that the sexual assaults became regular when she was ten and Bey became her guardian. She became pregnant at age 13 with the first of three children by Bey. In her deposition, Jane Doe Number One described overhearing a conversation by a bakery worker, in which he described walking in on Yusuf Bey molesting a young boy. The worker told others in the bakery, and a few days later, he was shot to death on an Oakland street corner. The accusation – Yusuf Bey ordered the worker killed because he had witnessed the molestation.

Reading and viewing Jane Doe Number One’s deposition, the amount of detail she gives is remarkable. She provides the name of the young boy who was molested, the names of his parents, the circumstances of the worker’s death, who was driving the van at the time. The bakery worker was shot while sitting in the van’s passenger seat, just three blocks from the bakery. What’s even more remarkable is that police have never followed up on this information. Jane Doe Number One says word around the bakery at the time was that Yusuf Bey’s son, Akbar, pulled the trigger. Akbar Bey was shot to death by a drug dealer in 1994, and Yusuf Bey died of cancer in 2003. Now, Oakland police tell me the fact that the suspected gunman and the man who may have ordered the killing are both dead may place the case at the bottom of the pile, in relation to all the current killings they’re investigating.

Some surprising numbers:

The Chauncey Bailey Project has confirmed through interviews, birth certificates, sworn depositions and other records in Alameda and surrounding counties that Yusuf Bey had at least 42 children with 14 women and girls. Further, lead reporters A.C. Thompson and Thomas Peele have linked at least seven unsolved murders to the Bey family and Your Black Muslim Bakery. We look forward to assisting the Chauncey Bailey Project in the weeks and months to come.

Dan Noyes is the chief investigative reporter for KGO’s ABC7 News I-Team.