‘I needed a place to stay and I put my life on the line for it’: Woman says male co-worker tried to sex traffic her while she was unhoused

A woman says she believes she was “set up to get trafficked” by a male co-worker after he offered her a place to stay when she didn’t have a home.

In the multi-part storytime posted by TikToker Itsxhal (@sugarmamahal) on Aug. 22, she says that her male co-worker at the restaurant she worked at offered her the “apartment [he doesn’t] use” after she told him she was homeless, which she now believes was an attempt to traffic her. The text overlay reads, “STORYTIME: Don’t trust your male co-workers.”

@sugarmamahal Imma make a part two if y’all want it !!! But y’all, I’ll never trust a single coworker of mine again bc of this !!! #viral #coworkers #fypシ ♬ Love You So – The King Khan & BBQ Show

“A few days after, he picked me up in the middle of the night to go to the apartment. As soon as I got to the apartment, I noticed a used shovel, a ski mask, a mattress on the floor in the living room, and a cooler so big you could fit a human being,” she explains in the first part.

She continues that a few days later, she and her best friend returned to “clean and decorate.” When they sat down to eat some ramen, she says that they “heard the doorknob jiggle,” thinking that it was her co-worker.

“My co-worker told me that besides him, I’m the only one that has a key,” she says. “Tell me why an old ass Middle Eastern man came through the door, bald as fuck, walked in and was like, ‘Who are you?'”

She says that he offered them food from the fridge that she had purchased herself.

“I was like, ‘We’re leaving right now. We’re going to the store,'” the creator says. “And he was like, ‘No. Stay. Stay.’ And he started getting more and more aggressive.”

@sugarmamahal Replying to @clau • that guy and I also believe that the neighbor was in on it too!!! Y’all be safe out here bc it could be a male or female that would set you up to get tr@fficked so don’t trust mfs out here!!! I’m so glad that I’m safe and nothing happened to my friend and I frfr #fypシ #viral #coworkers #donttrustanyone ♬ original sound – itsxhal

In part two of the storytime, the TikToker continues that she and her friend eventually left and waited in the car for him to leave so they wouldn’t be “followed.” When the man came out of the apartment, she says he was holding a box like he “didn’t want them to find out what’s in it.”

A few days later, she says that she went back to the apartment with her mom to pack her things and was confronted by another neighbor who said “the man that lives there is a lucky man.”

“I said, ‘I don’t know that dude. I don’t live here.’ He kept looking at me,” she explains. “He was trying to check me out and start flirting with me. And he was old.”

She says that she “confronted” her co-worker during her next shift about the situation.

“He was acting all innocent like, ‘I didn’t know that would happen.’ He knew that there was somebody who had the key,” she says. “My theory is that he was trying to set me up for [sex trafficking] because when he was giving me the tour, he was like, ‘I bring girls into the apartment, you know, do the deed.'”

She says that she “ignored the red flags” she saw earlier because she was “desperate for a place to live,” urging viewers to take her story as a warning.

The first part of the storytime has over 362,000 views as of Aug. 23, with commenters warning others to avoid situations that seem “too good to be true.”

“I’m preaching this so hard, if something seems too good to be true IT IS!!! No matter how desperate you are, do NOT accept anything!!! There’s bad ppl,” one commenter wrote.

“As high as rent is EVERYWHERE; who’s not using their apartment. STORYTIME: Don’t trust nobody,” another said.

In an update video, she explains that her co-worker claimed that the old man was “his friend’s uncle.” However, she says that the old man kept asking if a man named “Carlos” let her in, which is not the name of her co-worker’s friend.

“You guys don’t understand, when you’re in a very crazy situation like I was where I didn’t have a home, you’d be desperate, too,” she says in response to comments criticizing her for ignoring red flags. “And I was definitely desperate, and I thought I could trust him.”

@sugarmamahal I’m actually quite offended that some of y’all think I’m lying when it was literally the worst experience I had to go through. & not only that, I was at a very low point in my life. I didn’t expect that story time to blow up. But yes I was stupid and naive, I will admit that. But I’m the FIRST person to know how stupid I was for risking MY life for a sketchy ass apartment lol. Never again!!!!I was too desperate but now I am in a better place to never let desperation drive me again. All I care abt is the fact that I’m safe now and so is my friend. Who knows what would have happened if I was alone. I didn’t feel comfortable talking about this for SIX MONTHS and made videos abt this but kept them in my drafts. And still contemplating taking my vids down. But I lived and learned from that experience and I can now say that have grown & that I’m a different person now bc of it. Thank you for those who are supporting me, I love y’all. And be safe out there ladies. I will be exposing my coworker soon and all the shitty things that happened to me at that job very soon !!!!!#fypシ ♬ original sound – itsxhal

In a video response to someone suggesting she alert the cops about the apartment, the TikToker says she is concerned for her family’s safety since the male co-worker knew what they all looked like and where her sister lived.

“I don’t want to put my family on the line and I know what type of people he deals with,” she says in the clip. “I do want to prevent this from happening to future victims and I do want to get justice for possible past victims but I’m very, very anxious.”

@sugarmamahal Replying to @💋💚Jenn💚💋 ♬ original sound – itsxhal

The Daily Dot reached out to creator via TikTok comment.

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