A Jamaica man was charged for raping a 16-year-old girl and prostituting her for money, prosecutors announced Tuesday.
Richard “KB” Trantham, 34, was arraigned in Queens Criminal Court on Jan. 23 on one count of sex trafficking, two count of second-degree promoting prostitution, one count of third-degree promoting prostitution, ten counts of third-degree rape and one count of endangering the welfare of a child.
Trantham is currently being held on $250,000 bail and is due to return to court on March 6. If convicted, Trantham faces 25 years in prison, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown.
Last September, prosecutors said, Trantham met the 16-year-old victim through Facebook and invited her over to model tattoos. The victim allegedly agreed to his invitation and Trantham picked her up and brought her to his residence.
Once she was there, law enforcement sources said, Trantham allegedly sexually assaulted the girl multiple occasions between the time they met and November 2017. During this time, Trantham allegedly forced the victim to engage in prostitution acts with other men through force and intimidation a fear of physical injury.
“The defendant is accused of profiting from prostitution by forcing a teenage girl into having sex dates with men for money,” Brown said. “I once again 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.”
