By Madina Toure
A Kew Gardens attorney has been indicted a second time on charges of engaging in a sexual act with a female minor in exchange for money, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said last week.
Eyal Katzman, 56, of Kew Gardens, was charged with a criminal sexual act, patronizing a prostitute, endangering the welfare of a child and sexual abuse, according to the indictments. He was ordered to surrender his passport before being released on his own recognizance, Brown said.
Assistant District Attorney Jessica Melton, supervisor of the DA’s Human Trafficking Unit, is prosecuting the case.
Katzman was arrested Feb. 18 at the Queens Criminal Courthouse when he made a scheduled appearance on another case in which he allegedly engaged in a sexual act with a minor female in exchange for money between October and November 2012, the DA said. He faces four years in prison if found guilty of those charges.
He was scheduled to appear in court on both cases Feb. 26, according to the DA. If convicted on these latest charges, he faces up to four years in prison.
Katzman allegedly paid money to a 16-year-old female in exchange for participating in a sex act at his residence on several occasions between Sept. 10, 2012 and Oct. 31, 2012, the DA said.
In July, the DA announced that Katzman was indicted by a Queens County grand jury on charges of engaging in a similar act between October and November 2012.
A teenage female friend of another 16-year-old victim allegedly asked her some time between October and November 2012 if she would prostitute herself, the DA said at the time.
The friend said she knew a guy known as “Al” willing to pay her in exchange for engaging in a sex act with him, the DA continued.
During that same time period, Katzman allegedly paid the victim $80 in cash for performing oral sex on him at his residence while her friend watched, the DA added.
Reach reporter Madina Toure by e-mail at mtour
