FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, June 21, 2018
Man Sentenced to State Prison for Promoting Prostitution
Of Three Teenage Girls in East New York
Victims Were Ages 13, 15 and 17
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that an East New York man was sentenced to up to 10 years in prison for promoting three underage girls as prostitutes following his guilty plea last month.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant targeted vulnerable young girls so that he could profit by exploiting them. Today’s sentence holds him accountable for his cruel disregard for the wellbeing of these victims.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Whetsel Wade, 46, of East New York, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today to an indeterminate term of five to 10 years in prison by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. The defendant pleaded guilty to second-degree promoting prostitution last month. He will be required to register as a sex offender upon release from prison.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, between August 2016 and November 2016, Wade promoted the 13-, 15- and 17-year-old girls as prostitutes, posting photos of them on Backpage.com, alongside advertisements for escorts. The defendant would then drive the minors to hotels or private apartments to meet men who paid to have sex with them. The investigation also revealed that in addition to the minor victims, Wade promoted the prostitution of approximately five other women.
On November 14, 2016, police responded to an incident at Wade’s house and found the 17-year-old victim inside the defendant’s basement. The defendant had fled the scene and was arrested two days later.
The case was investigated by New York City Police Department Detective David Mills from the Vice Major Case Team, under the supervision of Captain Thomas Milano and the overall supervision of Inspector James Klein.
The case was prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney David Weiss of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Laura Edidin, Chief of the Human Trafficking Unit, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief of the Special Victims Bureau.
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