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The couple advertised the victim, along with several other females, as being a prostitute on the now-defunct Backpage.com.
By Forum Staff
A Brooklyn woman and her husband from Pennsylvania have been sentenced on multiple counts of sex trafficking and promoting prostitution for their respective roles in an illicit pimping operation they ran in Flushing from October 2016 through January 2017, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown announced on Friday.
Elizabeth O’Sullivan, 31, and Lee Vargas, 34, were convicted last October following a five-week jury trial of three counts of sex trafficking and second- and third-degree promoting prostitution. They were sentenced on Friday to an indeterminate term of 8 1/3 to 25 years on the two non-violent sex trafficking charges and a determinate term of 17 years on the violent sex trafficking charge.
According to trial testimony, in October 2016, O’Sullivan and Vargas picked up the 21-year-old victim from an undisclosed location in Massachusetts and drove her to Queens. The victim was under the impression that the pair hired her to be an exotic dancer and stripper. Instead, the couple forced the victim to have daily sexual encounters with multiple men in exchange for money. The victim was then forced to turn over the cash to O’Sullivan and Vargas.
The couple advertised the woman, along with several other females, as being a prostitute on the now-defunct Backpage.com. When she could no longer stand the brutal treatment she endured, the victim cried and told O’Sullivan and Vargas that she did not want to work for them. Vargas ordered the young woman to call him “Daddy” and slapped her repeatedly, choked and threw her to the floor her when she overslept and missed scheduled dates with her clients. Vargas further humiliated the young woman by urinating on her to signify that she belonged to him.
According to trial testimony, the victim tried to leave the Flushing hotel where she was held on numerous occasions only to be met at the door by O’Sullivan, who physically attacked and forced her to remain inside the room.
According to trial records, in an act of desperation the victim managed to reach out to her family, who notified police. An undercover rescue operation began on Jan. 7, 2017, when a law enforcement official responded to one of the Backpage.com advertisements. The officer, who was summoned to the Main Street location, met the victim and agreed to engage in sex in exchange for $200. At approximately 4 a.m. the following morning, officers returned to the hotel and apprehended the O’Sullivan and Vargas as they were sitting in a vehicle outside of the hotel.
“The victim in this case—a young woman forced into prostitution—endured both emotional and physical trauma at the hands of these two defendants. The two used physical force and intimidation to make her have sex dates with strangers and turn over the cash to them,” Brown said. “They have both been convicted and will serve a lengthy term in prison for their predatory actions.”
This conviction marks the first violent felony sex trafficking conviction in Queens since the Legislature increased the penalties in 2016.
