By The Diary
Sep 28, 2024, 12:34 PM EDT
A raid ended with the arrest of a man who was allegedly caught in an intimate act with a sex worker inside a massage parlor last night in Queens (NYC).
The police operation took place last night at 98-07 Roosevelt Av in Corona. Interestingly, the business was registered as a restaurant, but apparently operated as an illegal massage parlor and spa, right in front of a school, PS 019 Marino Jeantet.
ABC News traveled with NYPD Deputy Commissioner Kaz Daughtry as the NYPD cracked down on that “major commercial corridor that has become infamous for prostitution and brothels.”
“It makes the neighborhood look bad, it just makes us all look bad,” said neighbor Don Julio. Many reporting calls prompted the Police Department’s vice unit to go undercover, make an arrest and remove the sex worker. “I want to be very clear about this: We are not looking to arrest women, we are looking to rescue them,” Daughtry said.
The Department of Buildings (DOB) continues the investigation as NYPD sought to shut down the lounge. “Children and parents should not have to go through this. This is your community,” criticized New York Police Department Chief of Patrol John Chell.
Police say they have closed about 15 of these businesses on Roosevelt Avenue alone in the last six months, but it’s an uphill battle, because once they close, they open again, he noted. Pix11.
Queens has often been called the massage prostitution capital of the U.S. In January of this year at least six brothels claiming to be massage parlors were shut down during a surprise police crackdown along Roosevelt Avenue.
In October, four members of a Hispanic family living in Queens (NYC) were found guilty in Brooklyn of running a years-long prostitution operation involving minors brought from Mexico and of bribing a police officer. One of the victims is a niece of the group’s leader.
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 involving Latina women. That same month, five members of a Mexican family who operated a family sex trafficking ring from Mexico to NY and other states were sentenced to long prison terms.
At the end of 2021, District Attorney Katz warned that much of the sex trafficking activity occurs near transportation hubs, including airports. And he noted that hotels “give a feeling of anonymity.”
- Neighbors of ‘La Roosevelt’ demand regulations for the rampant presence of sex workers
- Hispanic woman forced as a sex worker to be with 20 men on her first night in New York now wants to save other immigrants
If you are a victim or suspect that someone is being abused, especially if it is a minor or elderly:
Seek help
- Call 911, 988 or (800)-942-6906.
- Text “WELL” to 65173.
- Review information at https://nycwell.cityofnewyork.us/es/ and www.988lineadevida.org