Held Runaway Captive In So. Oz. Park
Two 21-year-old men have pled guilty to sex trafficking for forcing a 14-year-old girl to work as a prostitute in South Ozone Park and to turn over all of her earnings to them, it was announced.
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown identified the defendants as Shaquan Gould, 21, of 123rd Street in South Ozone Park and Evan Harrington, 21, of East 234th Street in the Bronx. Each of the defendants pled guilty last Wednesday, Oct. 3 to one count of sex trafficking before Queens Supreme Court Justice Steven W. Paynter.
Sentencing is scheduled to take place on Oct. 23. During last Wednesday’s hearing, Paynter indicated that he would sentence each of the defendants to an indeterminate term of three to nine years in prison.
“The defendants in this case admitted to forcing a young girl to perform sexual acts with various men against her will,” Brown said. “Sex trafficking is a serious and disturbing crime that my office continues to vigorously pursue and prosecute.”
Brown noted that the guilty pleas bring to eight the number of sex trafficking convictions obtained by his office since state legislation strengthening penalties against human trafficking and providing assistance to victims took effect on Nov. 1, 2007.
According to the criminal case, on Apr. 19, the 14-year-old victim met with Harrington, and he later took her to a residence located on 123rd Street, where she met with Gould.
The two defendants told the victim to engage in prostitution acts at the residence and to give all of her earnings to them.
On multiple occasions between Apr. 19 and Apr. 26, according to the charges, the victim told Harrington that she no longer wanted to work for the defendants. She was told that she could not leave and was struck about the face and body by Harrington.
The victim managed to escape from the house on Apr. 26 and call a relative, who then called police.
The investigation was conducted by Det. Eric Echevarria of the NYPD Queens Vice Enforcement Division, Major Case Squad, under the supervision of Sgt. Michael Daly and Lt. Michael Costello, and the overall supervision of Deputy Inspector Anthony Favale.
Assistant District Attorney Jasmine H. Chang of the District Attorney’s Special Proceedings Bureau prosecuted the case, with the assistance of Assistant District Attorney Jessica L. Melton, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Anthony M. Communiello, bureau chief, and Assistant District Attorney Oscar W. Ruiz, deputy bureau chief, and under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.
