FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wedneskday, March 27, 2019
East New York Man Sentenced to State Prison
For Attempted Promoting Prostitution of 14-Year-Old Girl
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that an East New York man has been sentenced to up to six years in prison for attempted promoting prostitution and rape following his guilty plea last month.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “With today’s sentence this defendant is held accountable for his actions and the young victim in the case was spared from having to testify against her abuser in court. This case is representative of my continuing commitment to seek justice for vulnerable young women who are exploited and forced into prostitution.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Travis Walker, 28, of East New York, Brooklyn. He pleaded guilty to first-degree attempted promoting prostitution and second-degree rape on January 23, 2019. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to an indeterminate term of three to six years on the attempted promoting prostitution count and a determinate term of five years on the second-degree rape count. The judge ordered the sentences to run concurrently. The defendant must also register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, between May 25, 2018 and June 18, 2018, the defendant prostituted a 14-year-old girl on multiple occasions in Brooklyn, forcing her to walk the streets in the middle of the night to pick up strangers to have sex for money, as well as at his house, at a Borough Park hotel, and at a bachelor party in Williamsburg. The defendant also raped the victim.
The defendant withheld food from the victim; used force, including kicking her in her back with his boots; and forced her to give him any money she earned from prostitution.
After a woman who was also working as a prostitute for the defendant learned the victim’s true age, that woman helped the teenager get away from the defendant’s house, according to the investigation. The victim was later spotted on a Brooklyn street by her aunt, who contacted her parents, who then called police.
The case was investigated by New York City Police Department Detective Jacob Merino and Detective Elizabeth Gonzalez, of the Vice Human Trafficking Team, under the supervision of Lieutenant Christopher Sharpe and Captain Thomas Milano, and the overall supervision of Inspector James Klein. Police Officer Tony Cuoco of the NYPD’s 75th Precinct assisted in the investigation.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney David Weiss, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, with the assistance of Victim Services Unit Human Trafficking Social Worker Tracy Sun, under the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief of the Special Victims Bureau.
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