By Gina Martinez
A 22-year-old Jamaica man pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and promoting prostitution charges for forcing a 16-year-old girl into the sex trade in September 2014, according to Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
His friend and co-defendant also pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution, the DA said.
Robert Homer, 22, and Kenyon Sultan, 21, have been held in jail since their September 2014 arrest in lieu of $250,000 bail. The defendants appeared before Queens Supreme Court Judge Richard Butcher Tuesday and pleaded guilty to felony sex charges, according to the DA. The judge scheduled Homer’s sentencing for October and indicated that he would sentence him to between 2 1/2 and 7 1/2 years in prison and Sultan to one to three years, according to Brown.
“By pleading guilty the defendants admitted that they forced a very vulnerable teenager to work as a sex slave for their financial gain,” Brown said. “The defendants’ guilty pleas ensure that the defendants will be held accountable for their actions and allows the victim to move forward with her life. It also sends a clear message that such crimes will not be tolerated in Queens County.”
According to the criminal charges, Homer was introduced to a 16-year-old girl by a 17-year-old he was already pimping on Sept. 4 2014. Homer and Sultan brought the victim to a hotel room on North Conduit Avenue and forced her to prostitute herself and turn over the money. The two men waited in the hotel bathroom while the victim had sex and then turned the money over to them, Brown said.
Homer and Sultan brought the two underage girls to several hotels between Sept. 4, 2014 and Sept. 11, 2014 and forced them to have oral sex and intercourse with several men in exchange for money and then hand over the money, DA Brown said. Homer told the 16-year-old to make at least $500 a day and to call him “Daddy” as he also posted prostitution ads on backp
When the victim asked to leave and stop the prostitution, Homer told her no and brought her back to the North Conduit hotel and would take turns with Sultan to watch her as she slept so she would not escape, the DA said.
On Sept. 11, 2014 an undercover NYPD officer responded to the backp
When pleading guilty, Homer admitted to pimping the 16-year-old and 17-year-old as prostitutes and admitted to having sex with the 16-year-old.
Prosecutors declined to prosecute the 16-year-old victim and charges against the 17-year-old were dismissed.
Reach Gina Martinez by e-mail at gmart
