"Your Black Muslim Bakery" Sentencing: Richard Lewis Gets Life in Prison for Kidnap, Torture

OAKLAND, Calif. (CBS/AP) An associate of the once-prominent Oakland business, "Your Black Muslim Bakery," was sentenced Friday to the maximum term of life in prison without the possibility for parole for the May 2007 kidnapping of a mother and daughter, and torturing the daughter.

Richard Lewis, 26, is the first of several members of the bakery to face trial for the incident. He was convicted by an Alameda County Superior Court jury in April of kidnapping, torture, and carjacking, and sentenced Friday.

According to The San Francisco Chronicle, several men, including Lewis and another bakery member,  Yusuf Bey IV, 24, pulled over the two women in Oakland using a car that looked very much like a police cruiser.

Once stopped, the men then forced forced the two women, who were identified in court only as Jane Doe I and Jane Doe II, into the car and then allegedly took them to an abandoned home.

Prosecutor Chris Lamiero claimed Lewis began to torture the younger woman with a knife and threatened to burn her with a hot curling iron in hopes of finding out where a drug dealer friend of hers hid his money, says The San Francisco Chronicle.

Your Black Muslim Bakery went bankrupt shortly after the shooting death of Oakland Post Editor Chauncey Bailey in August 2007, as well as a slew of other crimes, says the newspaper.

Lewis maintains his innocence and denies any involvement in the kidnapping. He believes he is being framed by the other defendants who have been promised lighter sentences in exchange for their incriminating testimony.

Bey IV and another defendant, Tamon Halfin, 24, will be tried later on kidnapping and torture charges.