FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 2, 2015
Four Brooklyn Residents Indicted In Connection With Kidnapping
And Promoting Prostitution of Two 13-Year-Old Girls
Defendants Allegedly Kept Victims in Bedford-Stuyvesant Apartment
Brooklyn District Attorney Ken Thompson and New York City Police Commissioner William J. Bratton today announced that four people have been named in a 32-count indictment in connection with the 2014 kidnapping of two 13-year-old girls who they hoped to lure into prostitution.
District Attorney Thompson said, “These defendants are accused of disgraceful actions involving young girls who should be protected, not exploited, by men who should know better. Few crimes are as dehumanizing and degrading as prostitution. Luckily, the young girls who were abducted are now safe and their abusers will now face justice.”
Commissioner Bratton said, “The sexual exploitation of children affects not only the victim and their family, but society as a whole. Thanks to the work of the NYPD investigators and our law enforcement partners at the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office, these alleged abductors will now answer for their actions.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Marcus Sumpter, 25, Joann Bailey, 55 and Jerry Brown, 57. All of the defendants reside at 463 Classon Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant. A fourth defendant is being sought. The defendants were arraigned Friday afternoon before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on an indictment in which they are variously charged with first- and second-degree kidnapping, second- and third-degree promoting prostitution, second- and third-degree rape, second-degree unlawful imprisonment, fourth-degree criminal facilitation and endangering the welfare of a child. Sumpter was ordered held without bail, Bailey’s bail was set at $100,000 cash or $50,000 bond and Brown’s bail was set at $50,000 cash or $25,000 bond. The defendants were ordered to return to court on April 22, 2015. The top count carries a sentence of up to 25 years in prison.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on August 30, 2014, the two 13-year-old girls, who were on their way home from a party, met defendant Sumpter in the
vicinity of the Franklin Avenue train station. They accompanied him back to his apartment, on Classon Avenue, where he had sex with them.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, the girls left the apartment the next day, but Sumpter followed them to the train station and asked them to come back to his apartment. He allegedly told them they could make money working as prostitutes. They went back to the apartment and another defendant allegedly took scantily clad photos of them and attempted to post their pictures on craigslist.
The District Attorney added that, according to the investigation, a concerned relative texted one of the teens and allegedly received a text in return stating: “Want a date?” from one of the defendants, who had taken control of the girls’ phones. The relative then replied, “Yes” and asked for the price and the location. He went to the apartment, paid for the alleged services and retrieved the girl. The other girl was subsequently found by her relatives and removed from the premises.
The case was investigated by New York City Police Detectives Anayansi Parris and Adrian Campos of the NYPD’s VICE Enforcement Squad, under the supervision of Sergeant Gregory Graves and Lieutenant Marcus Morales, and the overall supervision of Deputy Inspector Anthony Favale.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Danit Almog, of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Laura J. Neubauer, Chief of the Human Trafficking Unit, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Coleen Balbert, Chief of the District Attorney’s Sex Crimes Bureau.
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An indictment is an accusation and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.