Allegedly forces a 24-year-old Queens Village man has been arrested on charges that he was engaging in sex trafficking and using intimidation and threats to force a 17-year-old girl to work for him as a prostitute.
District Attorney Richard Brown described the defendant “…accused of enslaving a teenager and forcing her to work as a prostitute. He allegedly forced her to turn all of her money over to him and threatened her if she failed to make enough money.”
The defendant was identified as Jamel Alexander, 24, of 223-15 113th Avenue in Queens Village. He was arraigned last week before Justice Barry Kroc on a 14-count indictment charging him with the crimes of first-degree rape, first-degree criminal act, sex trafficking, second and third degree promoting prostitution, second degree unlawful imprisonment and fifth-degree criminal possession of marijuana. He was ordered held on $100,000 bail and given a date of January 4, 2014 to return to court.
According to the charges, Alexander went by the name of “Prince” and took pictures of the complainant and posted them on backpage.com for the purpose of prostitution between May 1, 2013 and July 9, 2013, and drove the complainant to various locations to have sex with various men in exchange for money. The complainant was allegedly forced to turn over all of the money to the defendant, who allegedly told her: “Don’t even think about leaving.”
On July 9, 2013, an undercover police officer responded to the complainant’s backpage.com
advertisement and arranged to meet her for sex. The defendant allegedly drove the complainant to the vicinity of 222nd Street and Hempstead Avenue in Queens where she allegedly agreed to have sex with the undercover officer in exchange for money. The police obtained a search warrant for the defendant’s residence and allegedly recovered marijuana and the complainant’s personal property, including the underwear she was wearing in the backpage.com advertisement.
By Samantha Geary
