FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, March 24, 2022
East Flatbush Man Sentenced for Sex Trafficking of 16-Year-Old Girl
Defendant Pleaded Guilty to Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Child and Assault
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that an East Flatbush man has been sentenced to 8 ½ years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted sex trafficking of a child for forcing a 16-year-old girl to have sex with men for money and then turn over that money to him. He also pleaded guilty to assaulting a pregnant woman who tried to rescue the teen.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “The facts of this case are horrific, and today’s sentence holds this defendant accountable for his violent sexual exploitation of a child and for heartlessly assaulting the brave woman who attempted to rescue her. Violent predators who seek to exploit vulnerable victims will find no sanctuary in Brooklyn, and my Office is committed to vigorously pursuing justice.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Jermaine Taylor, 37, of East Flatbush, Brooklyn. He was sentenced today by Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun to 8 ½ years in prison and five years’ supervised release. He must also register as a sex offender upon his release from prison. The defendant pleaded guilty to attempted sex trafficking of a child and second-degree assault on March 1, 2022.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, between May 1, 2018 and March 6, 2019, the defendant forced a 16-year-old girl to engage in prostitution on multiple occasions in Brooklyn and Queens. The defendant slapped and punched the minor victim on multiple occasions and threatened to kill her when she told him she wanted to stop engaging in prostitution.
A 28-year-old pregnant woman was in a vehicle with the defendant and the victim on August 6, 2018, when the woman attempted to rescue the minor victim. This attempted rescue prompted the defendant to push the pregnant woman out of his car. The defendant then struck the woman with his vehicle and fled the scene with the minor victim.
The minor victim was recovered by police on March 6, 2019 after intelligence collected by the District Attorney’s office led police to her whereabouts.
The sex trafficking of a child statute was signed into law in November 2018. Under the law, prosecutors will no longer have to prove that force, fraud or coercion was used against the underage victims and thus will spare the victims from testifying in many instances. This indictment marked the first time in Brooklyn a defendant was charged under the sex trafficking of a child statute.
The case was investigated by Detective John Zerafa of the New York City Police Department/Federal Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Human Trafficking Task Force, under the supervision of Lieutenant Joseph Picarello and Captain Thomas Milano, and the overall supervision of Inspector Fernando Guimaraes, Commanding Officer of the NYPD’s Vice Enforcement Unit.
The District Attorney thanked Zachary Greenwood, Network Intrusion Analyst at the United States Secret Service, Special Agents from the FBI’s Crimes Against Children Squad in New York, Detective Theresa Nietzel from the Erie County Sherriff’s Office, Manhattan North Fugitive Warrants division and the Jersey City Police Department for their assistance in the investigation.
Intelligence Analyst Kayleigh Homer of the District Attorney’s Crime Strategies Unit assisted in the case.
The case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney David Weiss, Deputy Chief of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief of the Special Victims Bureau.
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An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.