Suspect Admits Role in Prostitution Ring, Pimping Teen Girls in South Hackensack, NJ
An Orange New Jersey woman recently pleaded guilty to running a prostitution operation that pimped underage girls in South Hackensack NJ and elsewhere in North Jersey.
According to Bergen County prosecutors, the suspect was one of the people who ran the human trafficking ring. She was allegedly assisted by her husband, her stepson, and two other women. The operators of the illegal sex operation allegedly coerced the teenage victims into becoming prostitutes by threatening to hurt them. The suspects then reportedly advertised the victim’s sexual services on websites like Backpage.com.
Clients met the teen prostitutes at motels in South Hackensack, Clifton, and other areas of New Jersey. The suspect and the other alleged co-conspirators drove the minors to the meeting places to engage in sexual relations with the clients.
South Hackensack law enforcement started an investigation into the sex trafficking ring in October 2014 after coming across an online advertisement that offered a teenage girl as an escort. An undercover officer with the South Hackensack Police Department later set up a meeting with the girl at a motel located on Route 46. Police went to the motel and subsequently arrested several people in connection with the prostitution ring.
The suspect is a 32-year-old resident of Orange, New Jersey. She was charged with several sex crimes, including promoting prostitution, because she allegedly had a major role in the human trafficking operation. The suspect reportedly convinced one of the victims, a 16-year-old girl who ran away from home in Brooklyn, New York, to engage in prostitution.
The Orange New Jersey suspect ultimately managed to avoid a trial in Bergen County Superior Court by reaching a plea agreement with the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office. The suspect pleaded guilty to human trafficking charges; in exchange, Bergen County NJ prosecutors agreed to recommend a sentence of 10 years in NJ State Prison, with a minimum mandatory term of incarceration of 39 months before she becomes eligible for parole.
For more information about this case, read the NJ.com article, “Woman Admits Role in Trafficking Teen Runaway, Authorities Say.”
