Five Employees Check Out In Handcuffs
Motels in Kew Gardens Hills and Jamaica were raided and five employees were arrested last week on prostitution-related charges for allegedly allowing both locations to serve as havens for prostitutes and their pimps, law enforcement officials said.
According to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown, the two motels-the Kew Motor Inn at 139- 01 Grand Central Pkwy. in Kew Gardens Hills and the Par Central Motor Inn at 82-85 Parsons Blvd. in Jamaica- were also closed down under the city’s nuisance abatement law.
The suspects were identified by Brown as Kew Motor Inn desk clerks Atm Raham, 56, of 72nd Street in Jackson Heights and Masum Chodwhury, 46, of 25th Avenue in Flushing; and Par Central desk clerks Harripersa Ramjattan, 63, of 130th Street in Richmond Hill, Bhaskar Chaniha, 52, of 195th Place in Hollis and Wojuech D. Sady, 25, of Villa Court in Hempstead, L.I.
All were variously charged with promoting prostitution, falsifying business records, commercial bribe receiving and permitting prostitution. If convicted, each defendant faces between four and seven years in prison.
“These two motels have been deemed public nuisances that have generated numerous prostitution-related arrests-including those involving underage girls-during the past year and have been the subject of numerous complaints from local residents,” Brown said in a statement. “This office-together with our law enforcement and other governmental agency colleagues-are committed to working with local communities in eliminating crime and business practices that promote criminal activity. The actions that we have taken this week send a clear message-businesses that allow prostitution or other illegal activity to occur on their premises are at risk of being shut down.”
According to the criminal charges, undercover police officers posing as prostitutes and customers visited the Kew Motor Inn and the Par Central Motor Inn multiple times since December 2011. During their investigation, they reportedly witnessed various acts of illegal activity.
It is alleged that the defendants accepted bribes, allowed the undercover officers to rent rooms without proper identification, knowingly allowed actual prostitution activity on the premises and, in some cases, assisted in the illegal activity.
For instance, the undercover officers posing as prostitutes allegedly instructed the desk clerks to call their rooms when a customer arrived for them and then direct the customer to the room.
The raids were the result of a multi-government initiative by the Queens District Attorney’s Office, the NYPD and the city Department of Buildings.
Brown specifically expressed his appreciation to Detectives Wayne Kam, Thierry Nemorin and others assigned to Narcotics Borough Queens Vice Module, which is under the supervision of Lt. Gerard Ferguson and the command of Capt. Matt Donaher and the overall supervision of Inspector Michael Bryan, commanding officer of Narcotics Borough Queens; to attorney Scott Weiss, of the NYPD’s Legal Bureau, which is under the supervision of Robert Messner; and to investigators assigned to the Department of Buildings who are under the supervision of Chief Investigator James McElligott and the overall supervision of Commissioner Robert LiMandri.
Assistant District Attorney Jeanine R. Diehl of the District Attorney’s Special Proceedings Bureau is prosecuting the cases under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Anthony M. Communiello, bureau chief, and Oscar W. Ruiz, deputy bureau chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.
It was noted that a complaint is merely an accusation and that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty.
