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3 pimps and 3 hotel workers face 80 charges over yearslong underage prostitution ring: Bronx DA
Of the roughly 16 victims that were trafficked, seven were underage, Bronx prosecutors said.
nypost.com
3 pimps and 3 hotel workers face 80 charges over yearslong underage prostitution ring: Bronx DA
By
Larry Celona and
David Propper
April 6, 2023 8:00pm
Updated
Three accused pimps and three now-former Bronx hotel employees teamed up to run an underage prostitution ring that included forcing one 16-year-old girl into 100 “dates” in a year, prosecutors alleged Thursday.
The alleged pimps, along with a manager, front desk clerk and security guard at the 7 Days Hotel, are facing 80 charges after an indictment was handed down in court this week, the Bronx District Attorney’s Office said in a press release.
The horrific accusations took place from August 2019 until November 2022 at the hotel at 2338 Bruckner Boulevard and elsewhere in the Bronx, prosecutors said. One victim was forced into prostitution from ages 14 to 17, the DA’s office said.
One of the alleged pimps, Akeem Lee, 34, allegedly hit and choked that girl and warned her he would kill her if she sought help from authorities.
Of the roughly 16 victims who were trafficked, seven were underage. One 16-year-old was forced into sex work about 100 times in one year, according to the DA’s office.
The alleged ring ran out of the 7 Days Hotel on Bruckner Boulevard and other Bronx locations between August 2019 and November 2022.Google Earth“This scheme involves brutal pimps, and hotel employees who allegedly were paid to look away from the despicable acts of degradation against teenage girls and facilitate them,” Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark said in a statement.
“The 7 Days Hotel allegedly profited from the human trafficking of girls and young women, and now employees will be held accountable.”
The hotel workers — manager Robert Olaguibel, 45, front desk clerk Golam Rabbani, 27, and security guard Patrick Walker, 51, — helped facilitate the prostitution, prosecutors said. Some members of the prostitution ring allegedly tipped off other associates if law enforcement was snooping around the hotel.
The three hotel workers allegedly failed to check the IDs of the suspected pimps or sex workers and didn’t put up a hotline for human trafficking victims that is mandated by state law, the Bronx DA’s office said.
An undercover NYPD officer, who posed as a pimp, and alleged pimp Marvin Flint, 32, were given discounted room rates in exchange for cash tips handed over to hotel workers, prosecutors alleged.
“The 7 Days Hotel allegedly profited from the human trafficking of girls and young women, and now employees will be held accountable,” Bronx DA Darcel Clark said. bronxda.nyc.govAlleged pimps Lee, Flint, and Anthony Reyes, 31, along with former hotel workers Olaguibel, Rabbani and Walker are facing various charges, including sex trafficking, compelling prostitution, promoting prostitution, intimidating a victim or witness, enterprise corruption, conspiracy, endangering the welfare of a child, and falsifying business records.
Flint and Lee were also charged with rape, according to the indictment.
“The NYPD and our law enforcement partners share an unwavering commitment to protecting the survivors of sex trafficking, one of society’s most heinous crimes,” NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in a statement. “And we will continue to ensure that anyone who seeks to profit through the abuse and exploitation of other people — especially our youth — is held fully accountable.”
Walker, Reyes, Rabbani and Lee were arraigned Monday in Bronx court while Flint was arraigned Tuesday. All pleaded not guilty, the district attorney’s office said.
Olaguibel was arrested in Pennsylvania and has not been arraigned yet.
A worker who answered the hotel’s phone Thursday night said the owner was not there to comment to The Post.