A St. Albans man has pleaded guilty to attempted sex trafficking for forcing a teenage girl into prostitution between December 2016 to March 2017.
The defendant, Joseph Gilbert, 26, beat and threatened the youngster into having sex dates with strangers out of a Queens senior citizen residence, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Gilbert pleaded one count of attempted sex trafficking on Jan. 3 before Queens Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone Jr., who indicated that he will sentence Gilbert to four to eight years in prison on Jan. 25.
According to the charges, from December 2016 to March 2017, Gilbert forced the teenager into having sex dates with strangers. He also made the youngster turn over all the money she made to him. When the girl expressed to the defendant that she no longer wanted to engage in prostitution, Gilbert violently beat her with a closed fist and threatened her.
In March 2017, the victim ran away from Gilbert and told police where he operated — inside a Jamaica senior residence — and he was arrested, according to the DA’s office. The girl had been living with the defendant and an older drug-addicted resident of the facility.
“In pleading guilty, the defendant has now admitted to coercing a teen girl — just 16 years old — into prostitution,” Brown said. “The youngster suffered greatly, but managed to escape the clutch’s of the defendant. She will, however, have to live with the memory of this experience for the rest of her life.”
