By Rich Bockmann
A teenage runaway allegedly forced to work as a prostitute in southeast Queens for three months was able to escape when her captors let their guard down and she called her grandmother as well as 911, authorities said.
Police responding to the 14-year-old’s cry for help earlier this month found her in tears running out of the South Jamaica building where she was being held.
Inside, they found two of her suspected captors and a loaded handgun, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, who said a grand jury last week returned a 28-count indictment variously charging the trio with rape, prostitution and sex trafficking.
“Two of the defendants are accused of enslaving a young teenager and, together with the third defendant, forcing her to work as a prostitute and to turn over all the money she earned to them through the threat of physical violence,” Brown said. “Unfortunately, for the victim, she discovered all too late that running away from home does not solve any problems and that few activities are as brutal and dehumanizing as prostitution.”
The three defendants — Lindsay Archibald, 31; Quanesha Hunte, 23; and Stephen Garrison, 25 — were arraigned on the indictment charges Feb. 21 before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Buchter, who set their next court date for May 1.
Authorities said the young girl ran away from home in September and was allegedly forced into prostitution inside a home on 107th Avenue in South Jamaica beginning in early November.
For three months she was allegedly threatened, beaten and forced into sex work until Feb. 3, when she was moved to Hunte’s home on the other side of the neighborhood, according to the criminal charges.
While Hunte was asleep and Archibald was away, the girl was able to call her grandmother and 911, the district said. During the call she told her grandmother that she had seen Archibald holding a gun the entire time they were at the home , the DA said.
When the police arrived, they arrested Hunte and Garrison and Archibald arrived soon after, according to Brown.
The next day cops executed a search warrant and recovered a .45-caliber Glock 21 handgun loaded with a magazine holding eight rounds, Brown said.
The three defendants were variously charged with kidnapping, rape, sexual assault, forced prostitution, sex trafficking, weapons possession, assault, imprisonment and endangering the welfare of a child.
Archibald and Hunte each face up to 25 years to life in prison if convicted and Garrison faces 25 years behind bars, Brown said.
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
