May 2, 2017 Staff Report
Two Brooklyn men found guilty of sex trafficking crimes, which involved forcing a 16-year-old girl and a 23-year woman to have sex with strangers, have been sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison, according to the Queens District Attorney’s office.
Defendants Francois “Frankie” Cousins, 24, and Kadeem “Deemy” Moore, 20, pleaded guilty last month to third-degree promoting prostitution. Today, Cousins was sentenced to 2 to 4 years in prison. Meanwhile, Moore was sentenced to 2 to 6 years in prison on April 27.
“Both defendants, in pleading guilty, have admitted to forcing a run-away teenager and another young woman into prostitution. The pair used threats of violence and verbal abuse to coerce the victims into selling sex for cash – money the defendants used to line their own pockets,” said Queens District Attorney Richard A Brown in a statement.
According to the charges, Moore met the two victims at the Days Inn hotel located at 31-36 Queens Blvd and worked with Cousins to force them to prostitute themselves on numerous occasions in Queens and elsewhere from January to March of 2015, using intimidation and physical abuse.
The charges describe a series of attempted escapes by the 16-year old that were thwarted with violence, until a 911 call from the 23-year-old victim, answered by the 108 Precinct, led investigators to prostitution advertisements of the teenager.
In March 2015, an NYPD sting operation followed up an advertisement, and an undercover officer was directed to a Queens hotel, where the 16-year old agreed to have sex with the officer in exchange for $120, according to the DA.
