By Rich Bockmann
A foreclosed home in St. Albans was a house of horrors for two young women who were kidnapped, beaten and forced into prostitution allegedly by a man who picked them up off the street by posing as a john, Queens District Attorney Richard Brown said.
Hikeem Green allegedly posed as a john — or a customer — in prostitution areas in Brooklyn and the Bronx where he picked up his two young victims, one a 19-year-old runaway from Rockland County and the other a 20-year-old from the city, Brown said.
Aided by his girlfriend, 22-year-old Darcell Marshall, Green allegedly imprisoned the two inside a vacant home on Springfield Boulevard for two months late last year, posting photographs of them on the controversial website backpage.com.
“The defendant Green is accused of being a sexual predator and a poacher, who took custody of his two victims by pretending to be a prostitution customer and then forcing them to work for him,” Brown said. “Together, he and his co-defendant are alleged to have participated in a modern-day version of slavery by holding the two young women captive and coercing them through threats of physical harm to prostitute themselves for the defendants’ financial gain.”
Brown said that on one occasion, Green allegedly punched one of the girls in the face more than 20 times when she tried to leave, then forced her to perform oral sex on him before she managed to call 911.
In addition to servicing johns at the St. Albans house for Green’s financial gain, the two girls were allegedly forced to walk the streets of Queens, Brown said.
Green was charged last week with kidnapping, rape, sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, criminal possession of a weapon, unlawful imprisonment, assault, burglary, trespassing and possession of marijuana, the DA said.
Marshall was charged with sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, criminal possession of a weapon, trespassing and possession of marijuana, he added.
If convicted, the two each face up to 25 years in prison.
“Fortunately, state lawmakers gave prosecutors a new tool in 2007 to bring those who victimize and exploit such vulnerable individuals to justice and put them behind bars for a long time,” Brown said. “Since the enactment of that law, my office has brought charges against 17 defendants for sex trafficking. Of the nine completed cases, all have resulted in conviction. Eight of the defendants have been sentenced to state prison time and the ninth is presently awaiting sentence.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
