Peter Gerardi, 30, of Forest Hills, Queens has been sentenced to six to twelve years in prison on charges of recruiting, prostituting and statutory rape of two female teenagers – then ages 13 and 16 – between March and September 2011.
“The defendant has been convicted of taking advantage of two vulnerable young women and forcing them to participate in a modern day version of slavery by coercing them to work as prostitutes for their financial gain through threats of physical harm and intimidation,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown. “Prostitution is not a victimless crime but a terrifying and despicable offense against society and the young women that it enslaves. It cannot – and will not – be tolerated in Queens County.”
Gerardi was convicted last November following an eight-week bench trial of two counts of compelling prostitution, two counts of second-degree promoting prostitution, two counts of third-degree promoting prostitution, twenty-one counts of statutory rape, eleven counts of statutory criminal sex act and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child before Queens Supreme Court Justice Evelyn Braun who last week sentenced him to concurrent prison terms on each count, the longest being an indeterminate term of six to twelve years in prison. Gerardi, who must additionally serve five years of post-release supervision following his incarceration, was also ordered to register on the State’s sex offender registry.
According to court documents, Gerardi, while out on parole, approached and befriended a 13-year-old girl on the street in March 2011. Shortly thereafter he asked her to perform sexual acts with men in exchange for money and provided her with rules to follow, instructions on how much to charge and told her to lie about her age, among other things. She reluctantly agreed to prostitute herself for him but that when she didn’t follow through on his orders, he would become violently angry toward her by yelling and grabbing her arms and slapping her in the face. On one occasion when she did get away from him, he found her and grabbed her by the arm, yelled and threatened, “If you ever leave me again I will slap the (expletive deleted) out of you.” Gerardi also had sex with the victim and had her perform oral sex on him on multiple occasions.
Between March 2011 and September 2011, Gerardi made the victim have sex with numerous men in exchange for money, which she was required to turn over to him. During this time period, Gerardi also forced a 16-year-old girl – whom he also met on the street – to work as a prostitute for him through threats of physical violence.
When Gerardi was arrested on a parole violation in September 2011, the two girls escaped from him. Later, Gerardi called the 13-year-old victim numerous times asking her to make money for him. When she refused, Gerardi, who goes by the street name “Prince,” had two female friends of his approach the victim and tell her that they were to beat her up on orders from “Prince” because she wasn’t being a good prostitute to Prince. They then repeatedly punched and slapped her. Afterwards, the victim reported Gerardi to authorities.
