PHOTO: A victim was allegedly forced to have sex with paying customers last year at this Woodside motel by two brothers who were sentenced to prison last week after having been convicted of sex trafficking and promoting prostitution. File Photo
By Forum Staff
Two brothers, Evan Hernandez, 25, of Corona, and Richard Hernandez, 27, of Brooklyn, who pleaded guilty to felony charges in a gunpoint sex-trafficking case have been sentenced to prison.
“This case makes it abundantly clear that prostitution is not a victimless crime but a terrifying and despicable offense against society – and the young women that it enslaves. The sentences imposed by the court punish both defendants for their actions and send a clear message that crimes such as these will not be tolerated in Queens County,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown.
Evan Hernandez, who had previously pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, was sentenced to four and a half years to nine years in prison; older brother Richard was sentenced to three years to six years in prison. He previously entered a plea of guilty to second-degree promoting prostitution.
According to the charges, Evan Hernandez was introduced to the 25-year-old female victim on April 15, 2014, by another woman at the Queens Motor Inn, located on Queens Boulevard in Woodside. The following morning, the other woman disappeared with most of the victim’s belongings. Evan Hernandez returned to the motel and, while holding a gun to her head, told the victim that the other woman had sold her to him for $200 and that she now needed to work for him as a prostitute to repay the debt. Evan Hernandez then brought his brother to the room to ensure the victim did not leave.
Both brothers forced the victim to have sex with them on several occasions at the motel, including times when Evan Hernandez held a gun to her head while having sex or forcing her to perform oral sex on him.
Additionally, it is charged that the two brothers kept the victim inside the inn between April 16 and April 21, 2014, and forced her to have sex with numerous men in exchange for cash, all of which she was required to turn over to Evan and Richard. During this time, Evan Hernandez threatened the victim, stating that he was her pimp and that he would kill her if she did not obey him. He also slapped and punched her and put his gun against her numerous times, stating that she could not leave and must make more money by prostituting. At one point, Evan took the victim’s phone and posted pictures of her on backpage.com, arranging prostitution dates for her at the Woodside motel.
On April 21, 2014, the victim managed to call her mother from a client’s phone and her mother, in turn, called 911 and alerted the police to the victim’s location.
