FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 30, 2019
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez Announces Convictions of Four Men Charged in Connection with Two Separate Sex Trafficking Schemes
January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Crown Heights man was sentenced to eight years in prison following his guilty plea to attempted sex trafficking and attempted kidnapping in connection with trying to force a 16-year-old girl to have sex with men for money, which would then be turned over to the defendant. The defendant’s co-defendant also pleaded guilty in connection with the case. A third man pleaded guilty to attempted sex trafficking and a fourth man pleaded guilty to attempted labor trafficking in a separate scheme.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “Protecting our children and youth is one of my highest priorities. These defendants sought to exploit vulnerable young women for their own profit. January is Human Trafficking Awareness Month and it is significant that we are holding these defendants accountable for their criminal behavior at this time.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Antwan Green, 28, of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today to eight years in prison following his guilty plea to attempted sex trafficking and attempted kidnapping on November 28, 2018, before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun. The defendant also pleaded guilty to second-degree criminal possession of a weapon in connection with a separate indictment. He was also sentenced to 10 years’ post-release supervision and will be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
Green’s co-defendant, Taymel Harris, 22, also of Crown Heights, Brooklyn, pleaded guilty to second-degree robbery, fourth-degree promoting prostitution, unlawful imprisonment and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child on January 3, 2019, before Justice Chun, in exchange for a sentence of seven years in prison and five years’ post-release supervision. Harris is scheduled to be sentenced on February 6, 2019.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, on or around and in between June 1, 2017 and July 15, 2017, the defendants ran a prostitution ring from an apartment on Lincoln Place in Crown Heights, involving a 16-year-old, a 17-year-old and a 20-year-old. One of the minor victims was brought to the location by another minor and was not allowed to leave. She ultimately escaped while one of the defendants was sleeping and contacted her mother, reporting that she was being held against her will and forced into prostitution.
That case was investigated by New York City Police Department Detective Gloria Chavez and Detective Elizabeth Gonzalez of the Human Trafficking Team, Vice Enforcement Division, under the supervision of Sergeant Faoud Zahirudin, Lieutenant Christopher Sharpe and Captain Thomas Milano, and the overall supervision of Inspector James Klein.
In a separate case, defendant Rudy Rocker, 19, of the Bronx, pleaded guilty to attempted sex trafficking, second-degree rape and criminal possession of stolen property on December 19, 2018, before Justice Chun, who sentenced him to seven years in prison and 10 years’ post-release supervision on January 9, 2019.
Rocker’s co-defendant, Donald Jackson, 20, also of the Bronx, pleaded guilty to attempted labor trafficking on November 14, 2018, before Justice Chun, in exchange for a sentence of one to three years in prison. Jackson was sentenced on November 28, 2018.
In that case, the defendants lured two upstate New York runaway girls, ages 14 and 15, to Brooklyn to strip and engage in sex acts in exchange for money, which would be given to the defendants. When the 15-year-old tried to leave the operation, which was based in East New York, the defendants refused to allow her to leave. She was rescued after she managed to contact her father on Facebook, and he contacted police.
The case was investigated by New York City Police Department Detective Gloria Chavez, of the Human Trafficking Team, Vice Enforcement Division, under the supervision of Sergeant Faoud Zahirudin, Lieutenant Christopher Sharpe and Captain Thomas Milano, and the overall supervision of Inspector James Klein.
Both cases were prosecuted by Senior Assistant District Attorney Vanessa McEvoy, of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney David Weiss, Deputy Unit Chief, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief of the Special Victims Bureau.
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