Defendant in Jewelers Row abduction seeks bail

Federal authorities on Wednesday painted Salahudin Shaheed, the purported mastermind behind the abduction and torture of a Jewelers Row shop clerk this year, as a threatening yet thoughtful thug.

For two months, they said, he cased the woman's workplace, plotting the robbery from a burgundy van parked outside. He allegedly provided his accomplices with packed lunches and bottles to urinate into so they could maintain constant surveillance.

On the day of the kidnapping, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeanine Linehan said, Shaheed came prepared for any eventuality, packing a Taser, zip-tie restraints, gloves, masks, handcuffs, and shackles - all of which he would later deploy against the 53-year-old victim.

"This is one of the most violent cases the city has seen in the past year," Linehan said. "This was a botched robbery, and in the process, someone was victimized in such a way that she will never be right."

Her comments Wednesday came as she fought back against attempts by Shaheed's lawyer, Lawrence Bozzelli, to secure his client's release from custody as he awaits trial on charges of conspiracy, kidnapping, and attempted robbery.

In a hearing before U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle III, Bozzelli called the case against Shaheed "thin" - based on tainted testimony from a desperate criminal looking for anyone else to blame.

Agents with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives arrested Shaheed, 35, and his cousin Basil Buie, 26, two months after the abduction, which took place April 4 outside National Watch & Diamond Exchange at 101 S. Eighth St.

Prosecutors say they and a third man - Khayree Gay, 31 - grabbed the victim as she left work and then put a bag over her head, bound her, beat her, and used the Taser on her at least seven times, all while demanding she give up the code to the store's safe.

Buie, a heavyset man, allegedly sat on the woman as Shaheed drove her and her captors around town for more than two hours, and used her debit card at ATMs at a Wawa store and a Chinese restaurant.

When they eventually concluded she did not know the safe's codes, they dumped her in a cemetery in Darby Township, where she flagged down a passing motorist for help, prosecutors have said.

Four months after that attack, the woman remains terrified of her abductors and rarely leaves her house, Linehan said.

"She has told us that every morning she wakes up and the sheer anxiety - that they will find her - causes her to vomit," she said.

In court Wednesday, Linehan argued that no conditions of release for Shaheed would assure the victim's safety - especially considering his long history of arrests, including a 2013 case in which he was accused of shooting a man in the head during an argument over stolen Rolex watches. Attempted-murder charges in that case were withdrawn later that year.

While Bozzelli acknowledged that the kidnapping victim's ordeal was "horrific" and "unspeakable," he maintained his client had nothing to do with the crime.

He pinned most of the blame on Gay, who pleaded guilty this month and has been cooperating with federal investigators since his arrest.

As Bozzelli sees it, the story Gay told doesn't add up.

While the victim identified the ringleader of her abduction as 6-foot-3 and of medium build, Shaheed is 5-foot-5, the lawyer said.

Gay told authorities that Shaheed wore a suit the day of the kidnapping. The victim said all three men were wearing hoodies.

Bartle made no decision Wednesday on whether to grant Shaheed bail. He said he would issue a ruling in coming days.