Jamaica man sentenced for selling 13-year-old for sex on the Internet

A 33-year-old Jamaica man has been sentenced for attempting to promote the prostitution of a 13-year-old girl — in part by uploading her photo onto the “craigslist” web site — in August 2007 and then for lying to the grand jury investigating the matter by claiming that he ran an S&M dominatrix and foot fetish business.
“Prostitution is not a victimless crime but a terrifying and despicable offense against society practiced by callous people who enslave young women without hope and victimize them one day at a time,” said District Attorney Richard A. Brown. “This guilty plea and sentencing allowed the young victim to avoid testifying at trial and hopefully will help her to recover from her ordeal.”
Tyrone Waite, 33, of 179-58 137th Avenue in Jamaica, pleaded guilty to second-degree attempted promoting prostitution and first-degree attempted perjury in July. He appeared before Queens Supreme Court Justice James P. Griffin on Monday, October 27 and was sentenced to 3 and a half years to 7 years in prison on his attempted prostitution plea and 1 and a half to 3 years in prison on his attempted perjury plea, to run concurrently.
The investigation began when the District Attorney’s office received an anonymous complaint and referred the matter to the NYPD’s Queens Vice Enforcement. Following the anonymous tip, an undercover NYPD vice officer accessed “craigslist,” viewed the advertisement offering the 13-year-old for paid sex, and arranged for a meeting.
The vice officer met with Waite at the Howard Johnson’s motel near John F. Kennedy Airport and paid $150 to have intercourse with the girl on August 24, 2008. Waite was taken into custody following the transaction, and was arrested with a briefcase containing a laptop computer found to have naked images of the 13-year-old girl, various advertisements and computer postings offering the girl for sex, as well as marijuana and methylenedioxyamphetamine (a hallucinogen) pills.
A grand jury was seated to investigate the matter on February 26, and Waite testified before the grand jury on March 4. According to the DA, Waite denied to the grand jury that he was promoting prostitution, instead insisting that he was running an S & M dominatrix and foot fetish business. At the time of his plea, he admitted he attempted to lie to the grand jury.