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Since at least 2006, Peiffer has been a police officer with the Village of Brewster Police Department.
By Forum Staff
A 14-count indictment was unsealed Tuesday in federal court in Brooklyn charging
Luz Elvira Cardona, Roberto Cesar Cid Dominguez, Cristian Noe Godinez, Blanca Hernandez
Morales, Jose Facundo Zarate Morales and Wayne Peiffer, a Village of Brewster police officer, with conspiracy to transport minors and the transportation of minors, sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit Hobbs Act extortion, promotion of prostitution, use of interstate facilities to commit bribery and related conspiracy counts.
Cardona, 33, Cid Dominguez, 54, Hernandez Morales, 51, and Zarate Morales, 32, were arrested Tuesday in Queens. Peiffer, 48, the only defendant not from Queens, was arrested earlier Tuesday in Highland, N.Y. Godinez, 42, is currently a fugitive.
As set forth in court filings, the charges relate to the operation of two sex trafficking and prostitution organizations – the Cid-Hernandez Sex Trafficking Organization and the Godinez Prostitution Business – and the years-long bribery of Peiffer, who allegedly accepted free sexual services by the two organizations in exchange for protecting the organizations from law enforcement detection and arrest.
Since approximately May 2002, members of the Queens-based Cid-Hernandez
Sex Trafficking Organization allegedly engaged in the sex trafficking of young women and minor girls and the promotion of prostitution. Cardona, Cid Dominguez, Hernandez Morales and
Zarate Morales used force, threats of force, fraud and coercion to cause young women and minor girls from Mexico to engage in prostitution in the United States. Members of the organization pressured the victims to travel to the United States with false promises of employment and a better life. Once smuggled into the United States, the victims were forced to engage in prostitution. The young women and minor girls were transported to prostitution clients throughout the State of New York.
The Godinez Prostitution Business also regularly caused women to be transported from a location in Queens to various locations, including Brewster, New York, for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. Noe Godinez worked as a driver for the Godinez Prostitution Business and transported women along preassigned routes to prostitution clients.
Both the Cid-Hernandez Sex Trafficking Organization and the Godinez Prostitution Business operated in Brewster, where they received protection from Peiffer. Since at least 2006, Peiffer has been a police officer with the Village of Brewster Police Department. For more than eight years, Peiffer allegedly directed members of the Cid-Hernandez Sex Trafficking Organization and the Godinez Prostitution Business to deliver women to him, including at the BPD police station, so that he could engage in sexual activity with the women at no cost to Peiffer. In exchange, Peiffer provided the Cid-Hernandez Sex Trafficking Organization and the Godinez Prostitution Business protection from arrest, including by advanced warning of law enforcement operations and intervening to prevent arrest.
“The oath law enforcement officers take affirms they will serve and protect law abiding citizens and vulnerable members of the community, not aid and abet criminals who are abusing young girls and forcing them to have sex against their will,” said FBI NY Assistant Director-in-Charge Michael Driscoll.
