After pleading guilty to trafficking adult women and minors in Brooklyn, NYC, defendant Neter Kamani was able to negotiate a sentence of no more than three years in state prison.
Kamani, 62, was sentenced by Judge Neil Ross in NY State Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday. In December he had pleaded guilty to sex trafficking and promotion of prostitution for using adult and teenage women for rent from his New York apartment, where he threatened to starve and kill them if they refused.
Judge Ross sentenced him to 1 to 3 years on five counts, terms to be served concurrently. As part of his plea agreement with Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office, Kamani is also required to register as a sex offender.
None of the victims was identified in court documents, so the Daily News He was unable to contact them for comment on the sentence.
When he was arrested in April 2018, prosecutors said Kamani forced at least 10 adult women and two minors into prostitution. He recruited them through social networks and the now-defunct website Backpage. The victims resided in Delaware, North Carolina, Georgia, Pennsylvania, and New York.
Between December 2014 and March 2018, Kamani controlled every aspect of his victims’ lives: He took their money, IDs, and often their cellphones. He took all the cash they earned, only let them use the names he approved and also chose the clothes they wore, according to court records.
His threats were often violent, according to prosecutors. Kamani was taken into custody after two of his victims flagged down police at the Port Authority Bus Terminal in midtown Manhattan, authorities said.
According to court records, Kamani spent a short time in jail after his initial appearance in criminal court before posting bail. The judges set bail amounts of $250,000 and $75,000 in separate court appearances.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office and Kamani’s attorney, Michael Sheinberg, have not commented on the sentence.
Very different was the 50-year sentence that Arthur Dawson received this week, a pimp described as one of the “most violent traffickers” prosecuted by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, also accused of forcing minors into prostitution, some of them they recruited via Facebook.
In a similar case, last week two young men were sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to rape and sex trafficking of three minors in Queens (NYC).
The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) has warned since 2020 of an increase in cases of child pornography during the pandemic due to the lack of school, sports and recreational activity, and the increased time adults and children spend online.
Last December it was announced that two New Jersey men were facing lengthy sentences on charges of producing child pornography and child sex trafficking. In the fall, the owner of a Long Island (NY) motel, his wife, his son, and an employee were arrested and charged with allowing sex trafficking on their premises.
Previously, in June, a Hispanic couple was prosecuted in Manhattan (NYC) on suspicion of using violence to force women into prostitution and selling sexual content on OnlyFans.
In February 2022 Burma “Nancy” Rincón, a former Teaneck (NJ) resident who had fled to Colombia, was arrested upon returning to the country on suspicion of running a prostitution ring in New York and New Jersey with Latina women. That same month, five members of a Mexican family who operated a family sex trafficking ring from Mexico to New York and other states were sentenced to long prison terms.
If you are a victim or suspect someone is being mistreated:
- Call 911 or 1.888.NYCWELL (1.888.692.9355).
- Text “WELL” to 65173.
- Review information at https://nycwell.cityofnewyork.us/es/
- NYC declares war on sex and labor trafficking and urges communities to join the fight
- Latino abused a child for 7 years: accusation in NJ
- Two children kidnapped for sexual abuse after meeting scheduled online in New York
- Landing from the Dominican Republic, New Jersey government family counselor arrested for child pornography
- Hispanic perverted sex offender had 26 Instagram accounts to recruit minors posing as a “model agent” in New York
- Man abused a girl in a playground after meeting through the Snapchat application: pedophilia in New York
- Police admitted to sexually assaulting 8- and 10-year-old girls for $200 in New Jersey
- 31 men arrested for Internet child sexual exploitation ring from New Jersey
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