By:Jerry Burke
The plea allowed Woodolph Romeo, 25, to avoid, for the time being, prosecution on a variety of charges on which he was originally booked after his August arrest, including second-degree kidnapping, second- and third-degree promoting of prostitution, second-degree rape, second- and third-degree criminal sexual act and fourth-degree conspiracy.
Despite the plea, however, investigators remain open to looking into additional charges should other victims come forward.
Brown said that Romeo 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. "He lured the victims -- two young and vulnerable girls -- into his prostitution operation," said Brown. "He degraded and exploited 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 the girls into the sex trade and put them to work on Rockaway Boulevard and North Conduit Avenue in Jamaica, an area 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.
"The case proves that prostitution is not a victimless crime," said Brown after the sentencing, "but rather a despicable offense against society committed by predators who enslave young women a day at a time."
Queens Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin-Brandt imposed Romeo's sentence.
