By Howard Koplowitz
A Queens pimp who pleaded guilty in November to prostituting a 15-year-old girl in the borough was sentenced Monday to three to nine years in prison and has to register as a Level Three sex offender, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said Monday.
Thomas Brown, 22, of 1105 Glenwood Rd. in Brooklyn, “exploited a mentally challenged young woman and risked her life every time he forced her to walk the streets of Queens County or go on a ‘date’ that he arranged for her,” the DA said in a statement.
“Under the circumstances, the prison term and mandatory sex offender registration imposed today by the court is more than warranted,” Brown said.
On July 22, 2008, an undercover police officer overheard a conversation Brown and another defendant, Gregory Simmons, were having with the girl at the intersection of 135th Street and Rockaway Boulevard in Ozone Park that involved her “having the money,” Brown said, citing the criminal complaint.
Shortly after that conversation, Brown said, the undercover officer talked with Thomas Brown, who agreed to have the 15-year-old girl perform oral sex on the officer in exchange for money.
Thomas Brown and Simmons, 28, of 77 Prospect Place in Brooklyn, were arrested after they took the girl to a Howard Johnson hotel at 153-95 Rockaway Blvd. in Laurelton, where she was detained after she agreed to have sex with the undercover officer in exchange for money, the DA said.
In statements made to police, the 15-year-old girl said Brown had received money from at least two other men with whom he had told her to have sexual intercourse and that he had taken her identification and told her that he would be the one to buy her clothes, food and anything else she needed, Brown said.
Thomas Brown pleaded guilty Nov. 30 to promoting prostitution before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Barry Kron, who sentenced Brown to three to nine years in prison, the DA said. Kron also found Brown to be a Level Three sex offender who must register as a sex offender for life.
Simmons pleaded guilty to conspiracy on Nov. 30 and was expected to be sentenced on Jan. 11, Brown said.
Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at hkoplowitz@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173.
