By Joe Anuta
A Flushing man was charged with orchestrating a sexual rendezvous with what he thought was a 14-year-old girl but turned out to be an undercover NYPD officer, according to the Queens district attorney’s office.
DA Richard Brown announced the charges last week along with a second case in which a Queens Village man is accused of the rape and prostitution of a 15-year-old girl.
“The defendants in these two cases are accused of being sexual predators who prey on young girls and do not recognize social boundaries,” Brown said in a statement. “If convicted, these defendants deserve to be sentenced to lengthy terms in prison both as punishment and to send a clear message that crimes such as these will not be tolerated in Queens County.”
Flushing’s Fernando Del Rio, 41, faces up to seven years in prison if convicted on charges of sending illicit messages to what he thought was a 14-year-old girl.
Earlier this month, an undercover NYPD officer received numerous messages from Del Rio inviting her to meet him for sex, the DA said.
Del Rio and the agent agreed to meet April 17, but Del Rio was arrested at the preordained location instead.
He is charged with attempted use of a child in a sexual performance, attempted rape and attempted endangering the welfare of a child.
In the second case, a Queens Village man was charged with kidnapping, sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, rape and endangering the welfare of a child, according to the DA.
On March 8, Christopher Whitfield, 24, told a 15-year-old girl who ran away from home he was going to prostitute her at various locations around Queens, the DA said.
Whitfield then posted advertisements of the girl on backpage.com, to which numerous men responded throughout the rest of March, according to the DA.
The girl was then forced to perform sex acts with the men at hotels and other sites throughout Queens, with Whitfield taking the cash, the DA said.
Whitfield also raped the teen twice and forced her to perform oral sex on him, the DA said.
When the girl complained, Whitfield beat her and burnt her with cigarettes and a heating razor, the DA said.
The girl was able to escape when left alone.
If convicted, Whitfield faces between 25 years to life in jail, according to the DA.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
