The residence at 142 Carlisle St., Wilkes-Barre, where the body of Nicole Cuevas was found decomposed, wrapped in a tarp and buried in the basement.
Ed Lewis | Times Leader file photo
WILKES-BARRE — A Pittston man accused for his alleged role in beating a man in the basement of a Carlisle Street house where a woman’s body was unearthed pled not guilty to assault charges before a Luzerne County judge on Thursday.
Tafsir Ibn Harris, 31, of Columbus Street, was charged by Wilkes-Barre police along with Jason Race, 43, and Desiree K. Linnette, 44, with beating a man in the basement of 142 Carlisle St. on July 27, 2023, according to court records.
The man escaped out a window and summoned police help at Division Street and Carey Avenue, where he told officers he was kept in the basement and beaten because he was blamed for touching a girl, court records say.
When officers went to the Carlisle Street house, Race and Faith Beamer, 40, allegedly obstructed officers in their investigation to check on the girl’s welfare.
Molestation allegations against the man who was beaten and kept in the basement were found false.
Harris, who remains jailed for lack of $100,000 bail, appeared with his attorney, Lawrence J. Kansky, before Judge Joseph F. Sklarosky Jr., where he pled not guilty to charges of aggravated assault, simple assault and unlawful restraint.
Race and Linnette are facing charges of aggravated assault, kidnapping, terroristic threats and unlawful restraint, while Beamer is facing three counts of obstruction.
Homicide case
Race, Beamer, Linnette, Sarai Kamalani Doyle, 24, and William Benjamin Wolfe, 54, are facing criminal homicide charges for their alleged roles in the torture and killing of Nicole Cuevas, 38, of Saginaw, Mich.
Cuevas’ decomposed body was found wrapped in a tarp buried in the basement of the Carlisle Street residence on Feb. 28, 2024.
District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce previously said Cuevas was killed inside the residence in April 2023.
Anthony Vernet Dixon, 24, last known address as Sugar Notch, is charged for his alleged role in beating Cuevas and assisting in burying her body in the basement. Dixon is scheduled for a preliminary hearing next week on charges of aggravated assault, simple assault and criminal conspiracy to commit abuse of corpse.
Harris was not charged in Cuevas’ torture and murder.
Fox investigation
The Carlisle Street residence was formerly owned by Debra J. Fox, who was last seen alive in January 2024. Fox’s body was found in a wooded area near Exit 1 of the North Cross Valley Expressway in Wilkes-Barre on March 26, 2024.
Fox had filed a petition for a protection-from abuse order against Race on Aug. 14, 2023, claiming she was starved, assaulted, shot with pellet guns, pistol whipped, denied personal hygiene products, and had money stolen from her.
Sanguedolce previously said Fox’s death investigation is linked to the ongoing investigation of Cuevas.
No charges have been filed for Fox’s death.
