By Mark Hallum
A Queens Village man is facing up to 50 years in state prison after he was convicted last Friday of sex trafficking two teenage girls and promoting prostitution, the Queens district attorney said.
The two-week trial showed Ricardi “Dirty” Dumervil, 29, issued threats of violence to the young women, who were forced to comply with the defendants’ wishes over the course of about a year, according to DA Richard Brown.
“The defendant has been convicted of inducing fear of physical harm into two young women so that he could treat them as chattel, commodities to be sold to others for cash, which he then pocketed for himself,” Brown said. “Sex trafficking is a violent, degrading and demeaning crime that will not be tolerated in Queens. The defendant will now be incarcerated for his crimes.”
A jury found Dumervil guilty of sex trafficking and promoting prostitution. He was scheduled to be sentenced on July 27.
Brown said the jury’s decision in the Queens Supreme Court trial, presided over by Justice Michael Aloise, marked 35 human trafficking convictions since 2007. That year saw the beginning of more extreme punishments for those guilty of exploiting human beings for profit. The last available year for statistics — 2016 — showed human trafficking convictions in Brown’s jurisdiction accounted for about one-third of all such convictions statewide.
Trial testimony alleged that Dumervil had forced two women, ages 18 and 19, into prostitution between April 2014 and March 2015, according to Brown. The defendant was accused of threatening violence upon the victims if they refused to obey, forcing them to engage in sexual activity with clients in exchange for money, and then pocketing the profit for himself.
In June, a different Queens man was charged by the Queens DA for alleged human trafficking and pimping out a 14-year-old runaway girl. Reagan “Flex” Conception, 28, faced a 76-count indictment for kidnapping, rape and other charges on the criminal complaint when he returned to court this week. He could be sentenced to 25 years to life behind bars if convicted, Brown said.
“I want to stress that prostitution is not a victimless crime and that sex trafficking is an incessant act of brutality and degradation. This teenage girl was finally freed, but she will have to live with this horrible experience for the rest of her life,” Brown said in response to the charges against Conception.
Reach reporter Mark Hallum by e-mail at mhall
