A Jamaica and an Astoria woman are among seven people facing 25 years in prison for “enterprise corruption,” after an Ozone Park prostitution ring that advertised in the “Erotic Services” section of Craigslist.org was busted by investigators.
Scott “Sal” Rosenberg, 45, of Massapequa, Long Island and Josef Davenport, 31, of Brooklyn are accused of co-owning and operating “Room Service Entertainment,” a round-the-clock call-girl ring that sold sex in the five boroughs, Westchester and Long Island.
The indictment charges that the ring rang up roughly $200,000 a year in cash and credit card charges – that were billed as lawful expenses such as “balloons,” “clowns” and “DJ services.”
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo charged that Lina (“Tina”) Vazquez, 24, of 133rd Avenue in Jamaica, and Barbara (“Lisa”) Morris, 48 of 29th Street in Astoria were among a handful of “bookers” who dispatched a platoon of prostitutes and drivers between June 30, 2007 and December 3, 2008.
A Brooklyn grand jury signed off on the 47-count indictment on Tuesday, May 19. The indictment charges that while the operation was in business “20 to 30 prostitutes and drivers were employed…10 drivers and 16 prostitutes on any given day.”
Also named as “bookers” are three Brooklyn women, Patricia (“Nikki”) Krupa, 32, Joanna (“Anna”) Mercado, 24 and Sylvia (“Jamie”) Soto, 29. Two drivers, Jose Tanon and Jonathan Jean, were named, “along with many other un-indicted co-conspirators, both known and unknown to the grand jury.”
Enterprise corruption is a felony that carries the same penalty as manslaughter. In addition, the defendants are charged with numerous counts of promoting prostitution that carry a seven-year sentence and misdemeanor conspiracy charges.
Davenport, reportedly a married father of two, was ordered held on $200,000 bond at his arraignment, while Rosenberg was reportedly freed on $100,000 bail. He is due back in court on July 29.
Cuomo alleged that, “Although [the ring] initially advertised in The Village Voice and other local papers, Craigslist became the sole vehicle through which the company operated.”
He charged that the bookers “continuously created and posted prostitution advertisements on Craigslist’s Erotic Services section because the more current the post, the more prominently the ad was featured on Craigslist.”
These postings contained either a pornographic or semi-pornographic photograph and a phone number to call to arrange a “date,” according to Cuomo.
The advertisements and phone calls were allegedly carefully coded with expressions like “GFE” for “girlfriend experience” and “skiing” or “rock climbing” alluding to drugs.
“Until Craigslist gets serious about putting real protections in place, it will continue to be an environment where criminal operations thrive with impunity,” said Cuomo.
“Even after so-called reform of the web site last fall, this prostitution ring easily gamed the system and allegedly used Craigslist to spread its illegal operation throughout all five boroughs and beyond,” Cuomo continued, calling for “protections that are full-fledged, not half-baked.”
Instead of an “erotic services” section, Craigslist now features an “adult services” listing, where identical invitations to “incalls,” “outcalls” and “more services” are repeated frequently.
