A Glendale man admitted to forcing his teenage niece into prostitution and endangering the welfare of another 15-year-old runaway in 2017, prosecutors announced on June 25.
Eddy Florence, 34, pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and endangering the welfare of a child on June 24. He is due to return to court on Aug. 1, where a judge stated that Florence will be sentenced to seven to 14 years in prison.
“The defendant has now admitted to forcing a teenage girl into having sex with men for cash,” said acting District Attorney John M. Ryan. “Sex trafficking is an incessant act of brutality and degradation that scars its victims for life. The defendant now faces a lengthy term of incarceration for his actions.”
Charges say that in November 2017, Florence approached his 13-year-old niece and asked her to work for him as a prostitute out of his Glendale home. In the weeks to follow, Florence recruited a 15-year-old girl, who prosecutors say was forced into performing sexual acts on customers at a Staten Island hotel in December 2017.
According to the District Attorney’s office, in pleading guilty Florence admitted to placing prostitution advertisements on various escort service websites, including Backpage.com, for both teenage victims. For several weeks, Florence forced the 13-year-old into having sex with strangers for money and demanded that all the proceeds from the prostitution be given to him.
On more than one occasion, when the 13-year-old did not make enough money, Florence would yell violently and threaten her.
During a police search warrant of his home on Dec. 13, 2017, Florence was found in bed with his niece and uncovered drugs, a credit card embossing machine and Florence’s cellphone, which was registered as the phone number on the prostitution ads. He was arrested that same night.
