Alleged pimp met
14-year-old victim online

An alleged pimp has been indicted for promoting prostitution of a 14-year-old girl who he met on a social networking web site and lured to New York, where he exploited her by having her work for him as a prostitute and go on more than 500 “dates” during a two-month period.
Jamaal Watkins, 25, of 166th Street was arraigned last week before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice James P. Griffin on a 95-count indictment charging him with the crimes of second-degree promoting prostitution, second- and third-degree rape, second-degree criminal sexual act, promoting an obscene sexual performance by a child, promoting a sexual performance by a child, possessing an obscene performance by a child, possessing a sexual performance by a child and endangering the welfare of a child. Griffin continued the defendant’s previous bail of $100,000 and ordered him to return to court on April 28. If convicted, Watkins faces up to 15 years in prison.
According to the charges, the victim – who was residing in an out-of-state group home – first met Watkins on a chat site when she was 13 years old. It is alleged that she spoke with him often and he frequently asked her to come to New York, where he promised he would take care of her. Late in the fall of 2008, approximately a year after they first met online, the victim allegedly ran away from the group home and stayed with friends in New York until she met Watkins on November 6, at which time he engaged in a sexual relationship with her.
It is further alleged that, four days later, Watkins told the victim that she was going to make money and he began to set up “dates” for her. He allegedly accomplished this, in part, by taking pictures of her in lingerie and lewd clothing and posting the pictures on the Craigslist.com web site under the listing “dates.”
It is alleged that between November 11, 2008, and January 2, 2009, Watkins took her on approximately 11 “dates” per day at various hotels and residences in Queens, during which she performed sexual acts for money – which she allegedly turned over to Watkins in exchange for him providing her with food and clothing. It is further alleged that during this period the defendant physically assaulted the victim when she did not call him after she went on a date.
Watkins was arrested on January 3, a day after the victim was picked up by police at the Par Motor Inn, located on Parsons Boulevard, where she had agreed to have sexual intercourse with an undercover police officer in exchange for money.
District Attorney Richard A. Brown said that a court-ordered search warrant was executed at Watkins’s residence and a photo album was allegedly recovered from his bedroom floor which contained approximately 40 photos of approximately 20 different naked females, and a digital camera containing photographs of naked females, including the victim. A computer inside the residence allegedly contained numerous photographs of the victim performing sexual acts with the defendant.