By Philip Newman
A 32-year-old Pennsylvania man and a 29-year-old Brooklyn woman have been indicted by a Queens grand jury on charges of sex trafficking, kidnapping, promoting prostitution along with other charges for allegedly forcing a 21-year-old woman into prostitution.
They were arrested outside a hotel in Flushing where the victim was forced to have sex with a number of clients, the Queens district attorney said.
Elizabeth O’Sullivan of 4th Avenue in Brooklyn and Lee Vargas, 32, of Main Street in Stroudsburg, Pa. were arraigned last Friday before Queens Supreme Court Justice Richard Bucher on an indictment charging them with kidnapping, sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, tampering with a witness, criminal possession of marijuana, tampering with a witness, intimidating a witness, assault and forcible touching.
Queens DA Richard Brown said bail was set at $600,000/$300,000 cash for Vargas and $125,000 for O’Sullivan. Each faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted. They were ordered to return to court on May 8.
O’Sullivan and Vargas traveled to Massachusetts in October 2016 and picked up the 21-year-old victim and brought her to Queens, purportedly to perform as a dancer/stripper with her earnings going to O’Sullivan and Vargas
But shortly after arriving in Queens the victim was forced to have sexual intercourse with a number of men, the DA said.
On one occasion the victim burst into tears whereupon Vargas slapped, choked her and threatened worse, according to the criminal complaint filed by prosecutors.
According to the charges, the victim finally got word to her family who notified police. An undercover rescue officer responded to an ad on Backp
Police arrested O’Sullivan and Vargas in their car parked in front of the Main Street hotel in Flushing with marijuana allegedly burning in the car’s ash tray, the complaint said.
O’Sullivan was charged with contacting a friend of the victim to intimidate her into not testifying before the grand jury, the DA said.
