FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, June 19, 2017
East New York Man Indicted For Sex Trafficking of 14-Year-Old Girl
Defendant and his Girlfriend Charged with Promoting Second 14-Year-Old as Prostitute
Acting Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that an East New York man has been charged in a 21-count indictment with sex trafficking, promoting prostitution and related charges for offering two 14-year-old girls to men who paid to have sex with them.
Acting District Attorney Gonzalez said, “These defendants preyed on vulnerable young girls, selling them to men who had sex with them in exchange for money. Prostitution of minors is a dangerous and degrading crime and those who force others to work in the sex trade in Brooklyn will be prosecuted.”
The District Attorney identified the defendants as Anthony Young, a.k.a., Royalty, 30, of East New York, Brooklyn, and his girlfriend, Shaunda Swanson, 23, of the Bronx. Young was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on an indictment in which he is charged with sex trafficking, first-degree promoting prostitution and related charges. He faces up to 25 years in prison, and would have to register as a sex offender, if convicted of the top count. He was ordered held without bail and to return to court on September 13, 2017. Swanson is expected to be arraigned next week. She is charged with first-degree promoting prostitution and related charges. She faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of the top count.
The Acting District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, between March and August of 2016, Young prostituted two 14-year-old girls in Brooklyn; Hempstead, Huntington and Westbury, New York; and Elizabeth, New Jersey, posting photos of them alongside advertisements for escort services.
It is alleged that the defendants rented several rooms at the Howard Johnson hotel on Rockaway Avenue in Brownsville, Brooklyn, as well as at other locations. Men came to the locations and paid to have sex with the girls.
Furthermore, according to the investigation, it is alleged that Young drove the underage girls to other locations in Brooklyn, as well as Long Island and New Jersey to have sex with men for money. Young allegedly threatened one of the girls that she would be harmed if she did not comply. The girls allegedly had to turn over most of their earnings to Young.
It is alleged that his co-defendant, Swanson, assisted Young in promoting one of the 14-year-old victims, including providing her with false identification so she could rent a hotel room to have sex with men for money.
The case was investigated by New York City Police Department Detective David Mills of the Major Case Human Trafficking Team, Vice Enforcement Division, under the supervision of Lieutenant Christopher Sharpe and Captain Thomas Milano, and the overall supervision of Inspector James Klein.
The Acting District Attorney thanked Sergeant Patricia Gusmano, of the Special Victims Unit at the Union County, New Jersey Prosecutor’s Office, for her assistance in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney David Weiss, of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, with the assistance of Brooklyn Middleton, Senior Intelligence Analyst with the District Attorney’s Crime Strategies Unite, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Laura Edidin, Unit Chief, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief of the Special Victims Bureau.
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