Man allegedly kidnapped pregnant panhandler off the street, drugged and sexually assaulted her for years: court docs

A Houston man locked a woman in his garage for nearly five years and drugged her so she couldn’t escape, according to court documents recently obtained by local news.

Lee Carter, 52, is charged with aggravated kidnapping after he allegedly approached the woman when she was pregnant and panhandling in Almeda Genoa and gave her a dollar approximately five years ago, according to Harris County court documents obtained by FOX 26 Houston.

Carter offered help to the woman, who accepted, and he drove her to his home on the 5200 block of Perry Street in southeast Houston.

A charging document states that the victim “begged to leave,” but Carter drugged her with crack cocaine, leaving her “physically unable” to escape his garage, FOX 26 reported.

An initial complaint was filed in April 2023, when the victim was apparently able to contact police using Carter’s computer. 

Houston police officers responded to Carter’s home on April 7 last year and made contact with the woman, who told them Carter had been holding her captive in his home, sexually assaulting and drugging her since he kidnapped her four to five years ago. 

She told officers that she escaped once, when she was able to break a window in the garage and climb out.

The woman was hospitalized, but Carter picked her up and brought her back to his home and boarded up the window attached to his garage so she could not escape again, FOX 26 reported, citing the charging documents. 

Authorities said the roughly 30-year-old, 5 ft., 2 in. woman was “malnourished” and weighed just over 70 lbs. when they made contact with her last year. 

A warrant was filed against Carter in April, but his arrest did not come until Friday, when police conducted a welfare check at his residence after someone reported seeing a TV on and hearing a dog barking at the residence.

Police responded to Carter’s address and were able to rescue a dog inside the garage investigators believe Carter used to hold the victim captive.

The woman was nowhere to be found, according to FOX 26.

Carter was detained at a motel and is currently being held in Harris County Jail on $100,000 bond.

It is unclear how the suspect was able to avoid arrest for approximately nine months.

Sources told FOX 26 that Carter is also a local rapper, who goes by the stage name “Viper.”