A Long Island man was sentenced on Tuesday, March 17, to 44 ½ to 52 years in prison for sex trafficking three women at various locations across southeast Queens between 2019 and 2022.
Cleveland “Dollarz” Sterling, 38, of Arcadia Avenue in Uniondale, was convicted at trial last month on sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, robbery and other related crimes, after the jury deliberated for two days before reaching a verdict.
According to the investigation and trial testimony, Sterling met the first victim, a 22-year-old woman, in 2019 and forced her to engage in sex for money at various locations in Queens through November 2022. Sterling took photographs of the victim and used them to create online ads for sex. He communicated with customers, arranged prostitution bookings and required the victim to turn over all proceeds from the sexual encounters to him. Sterling struck the victim when she withheld cash or refused to comply with his orders. Sterling routinely inflicted violence on the victim, including when she did not want to have sex with customers for money. On one occasion, Sterling struck her so hard that he broke some of her teeth. During another assault, Sterling struck her in the head with a glass bottle, requiring the victim to get staples to close the laceration to her head.
Sterling met the second victim, a 19-year-old woman, in August 2021. They began an intimate relationship, which transitioned into the defendant instructing the victim to have sex with men in exchange for money. The defendant posted prostitution ads, arranged the encounters and collected all the proceeds from the sex acts. Sterling became violent whenever the victim expressed opposition to engaging in prostitution and assaulted her numerous times. On one occasion in October 2021, the victim alerted the NYPD when Sterling forcibly stole money from her, and police officers observed bruising on her body.
Sterling met the third victim, a 27-year-old woman, in July 2019 and the two started dating. After approximately two weeks, the defendant took her to the JFK Inn at 154-10 South Conduit Ave. in Jamaica, where he had another victim waiting. Sterling told the woman that she had to work for him and forced her to pose naked for photographs for sex advertisement. He ordered her to engage in prostitution, arranged the dates, and collected the proceeds after the sex acts.
During the course of being trafficked, two of the victims received tattoos bearing a form of the defendant’s name that was used to brand them. Sterling told the first victim that she would first have to cut off her own foot because his name was tattooed on it and that it belonged to him. The second victim — who while getting tattooed, believed she was getting a different tattoo — was tattooed with Sterling’s street name “Dollarz” and told her she was now his property.
“This defendant preyed on three separate women using violence, intimidation and coercion to force the victims into sexual exploitation for his own profit,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said.
Queens Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone, who presided at trial, sentenced Sterling to 17 years in prison for crimes against the first victim, 20 years in prison for crimes against the second woman, and 7 ½ to 15 years in prison for crimes against the third victim. The terms will run consecutively for a total of 44 ½ to 52 years in prison, to be followed by five years of post-release supervision. Sterling will have to register as a sex offender upon release.
“A jury found him guilty of those crimes, and he has now been sentenced to more than four decades in prison as punishment,” Katz said. “Sex trafficking is calculated, cruel and devastating for those who are targeted. We will continue to prosecute these crimes, while working with our partner service providers to provide survivors with proper support and resources.”
