Forced Runaway To Sell Sex In Ozone Park
An Ozone Park man is now serving a lengthy prison sentence after pleading guilty last month to kidnapping a 15- year-old girl and forcing her to sell her body for sex for his profit last winter, law enforcement sources announced.
Gary Council, 22, of 91st Street was ordered last Thursday, Feb. 28, by Queens Supreme Court Justice Joseph Zayas to serve between two and six years behind bars. Council pled guilty back on Feb. 14 to a charge of sex trafficking, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
“This was a horrific case in which the victim, a young girl, managed to survive a nightmarish ordeal in which she was forced to work as a prostitute,” Brown said in a statement last Thursday. “Fortunately, as a result of [Council’s] guilty plea, the victim will not have to testify at trial and relive her ordeal.”
Council and five other men were arrested on Mar. 8, 2012, after being indicted by a grand jury for their roles in the exploitation of the 15-year-old girl, who had been picked up a month earlier from a home on Jerome Street in Brooklyn.
As previously reported, the victim- along with a friend-were brought from the location in Brook- lyn to a home on 101st Avenue in Ozone Park on Feb. 6, 2012, where they met Council and several others charged in the case.
Shortly thereafter, police said, the victim and her friend attempted to leave, but Council forced them to remain at the location. After grabbing the victim by the arm, according to the charges, Council told the victim, “You’re not going anywhere. You are going to stay here and make my money.”
In the days that followed, authorities said, Council arranged for a number of “johns” to visit the 101st Avenue home and have sexual intercourse and oral sex with the 15-yearold girl in exchange for cash. All of the proceeds from the prostitution scheme were pocketed by Council.
Though the girl attempted to flee the location several times, law enforcement sources, Council coerced her to stay, resorting to making verbal threats on one location.
The runaway was reportedly able to free herself from the home on Feb. 12, 2012, after being ordered by Council to buy him something at a nearby store. Instead of following his orders, law enforcement sources said, the victim ran for help.
Council and five other suspects- Andrea Furlonge, 21, of 101st Avenue in Ozone Park and Brooklyn’s Junior C. Goldring, 23, of East 52nd Street; Omari A. Millington, 21, of East 43rd Street; Renardo Williams, 22, of East 42nd Street and Roy McMillan, 24, of Linden Boulevard- were arrested last March following indictment and an investigation by the NYPD Vice Enforcement Division.
According to court records:
– Furlonge pled guilty on Feb. 6 to sex trafficking and promoting prostitution and is scheduled to be sentenced on Mar. 15.
– Goldring and Williams each pled guilty on Feb. 14 to a charge of statutory rape and are scheduled to be sentenced on Mar. 28.
– Millington pled guilty on Dec. 28, 2012 to a charge of statutory rape and is currently serving a one-year prison sentence.
– McMillan pled guilty on Feb. 26 to criminal trespass and was sentenced to time served; a five-year order of protection has also been issued against him.
Det. Paul Carlin, assisted by Det. Rose Muckenthaler, of the NYPD Vice Enforcement Division conducted the investigation under the supervision of Lt. Michael Costello and Sgt. Michael Daly, and the overall supervision of Deputy Inspector Anthony Favale.
The cases were prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Jessica L. Melton and Jasmine H. Chang of the D.A.’s Special Proceedings Bureau, which is supervised by Assistant District Attorneys Anthony M. Communiello, bureau chief, and Oscar W. Ruiz, bureau chief.
