By:Jerry Burke
Brown said that Woodolph Romeo, 25, was arrested after an investigation police say connected him with the pimping of a 13-year-old runaway and a 14-year-old girl, both from Nassau County.
"According to the charges, (Romeo) lured the victims - two young and vulnerable girls - into his prostitution operation," said Brown. "He is accused of violating, degrading and exploiting them by repeatedly sexually attacking and beating them and then forcing them to perform various sexual acts with scores of male customers, retaining the proceeds for himself."
Brown said that Romeo lured them into the sex trade and put them to work on Rockaway Boulevard and North Conduit Avenue in Jamaica, known as "The Track," between October 2001 and May 2004. Brown said the girls would work for Romeo at the intersection three or four times a week, being hired by men for sex up to 15 times a night.
Romeo was also charged for his alleged personal sexual encounters with the minors between Sept. 2002 and June 2004, as well as a kidnapping charge for allegedly keeping the 13-year-old in his former Jamaica residence under the threat of physical harm.
Romeo has been charged with second degree kidnapping, second and third degree promoting prostitution, second degree rape, second and third degree criminal sexual act and fourth degree conspiracy.
Brown also said the defendant was charged with one count of second degree assault for allegedly punching the 14-year-old girl in the face in December of 2002, causing a scar under her right eye.
Romeo is currently being held at Rikers Island on an unrelated robbery charge, said Brown, and was arrested for the new charges on Friday, Aug. 20. His bail was set at $250,000 and is back in court on Sept. 7.
