By Rich Bockmann
A Queens man who pimped two young women out of a foreclosed home in St. Albans he lived in with his girlfriend was sentenced to up to 12 years behind bars Tuesday on sex-trafficking charges, the district attorney said.
Hikeem Green’s girlfriend was also sentenced to up to three years in prison for her role in prostituting the 19- and 20-year-olds out of the Springfield Boulevard home in late 2012, according to DA Richard Brown.
“Today’s sentence should serve as a warning to those who would prey upon troubled young women and force them to work as prostitutes,” the DA said. “These convictions and sentences serve as a measure of justice for the victims and send a message that sex trafficking will not be tolerated in Queens County.”
Brown said Green, 39, posed as a john looking for prostitutes in the Bronx and Brooklyn where he met his victims, a teenage runaway from Rockland County and a 20-year-old from New York City.
Green held the women against their will in St. Albans between October and December, taking photos of them and posting them on the adult listings section of backpage.com, Brown said.
A number of men responded to the ads and the two women were forced to have sex inside the house and at other locations in the borough and then hand the money over to Green and his girlfriend, Darcell Marshall, who was near the age of the couple’s two victims, Brown said.
Green pleaded guilty last month to two counts of sex trafficking and he was sentenced to 12 years in prison Tuesday by Queens Supreme Court Justice John Latella Jr.
Marshall, 22, pleaded guilty last month to one count of sex trafficking and was sentenced by Latella to one year to three years in prison.
Brown said his office has convicted 11 defendants on sex-trafficking charges since tougher state laws went into effect in November 2007.
The legislation created a sex-trafficking crime for those who profit from sex trafficking and required sex trafficking convicts to register as sex offenders.
It also provided housing and treatment for drug addiction and mental health issues for victims of sex trafficking.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
