CLAY COUNTY, Fla. – A 29-year-old jail inmate in Clay County was served a warrant Wednesday for attempted murder and human trafficking charges out of Duval County. Zakariya Clarke has been in jail in Clay County since his arrest in December 2020 for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, burglary and attempted murder.
The arrest report for the most recent charges filed against him is a disturbing read. It describes Clarke trafficking multiple women after getting them addicted to drugs. Also disturbing is the letter Clarke wrote to a Clay County judge, asking the judge for leniency saying he wants to get on with his life and be a better father to his child.
A victim came forward in November with allegations of human trafficking and abuse.
Victims called him a monster. They said, “No normal person does what he does.” They said Clarke was a pimp and human trafficker. He was facing 17 years in prison following his conviction last year for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.
Now, he’s facing even longer prison time. The warrant Clarke was served with Wednesday includes three counts of human trafficking and an attempted murder charge. They stem from events in 2020.
According to the arrest report, Clark would beat his victims for disrespecting him, not following rules or attempting to escape. He would pimp them into prostitution and would force victims to use fentanyl to control them.
In May 2020, Clarke pretended to be a customer of one of the victims who tried to escape. The report states that he and another man brutally beat her and Clarke stabbed her in the back.
This was because she tried to leave and help another victim do the same. Clarke was positively ID’d on surveillance video from where the stabbing happened and from pictures.
He’s in the Clay County jail awaiting transfer to a Florida State Prison.
We reached out to Rethreaded, an organization advocating for survivors of human trafficking.
They sent us this statement that reads in part: “This case is a story we, unfortunately, have heard at Rethreaded over and over again and yet, every time, moves us to continue to provide a way for women to leave and have access everything they need to rebuild their lives. As a community, we must ensure that we are providing all the services women need to overcome the severe-complex trauma they experience while in the life of trafficking.”