Senator John D. Sabini (D/I-Queens) praised Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown’s announcement that a Queens County grand jury has indicted Woodley Gaston, 22, of South Ozone Park under the State’s new sex trafficking statute.
In 2007, Senator Sabini sponsored a bill to prohibit human trafficking that sought to bridge the gap between competing bills in Albany. Previously, New York had no law on the books criminalizing such behavior. The Sabini law made it a crime in New York State to traffic a person for labor or sexual servitude, knowingly patronize a trafficking victim or promote sex tourism.
“I’m very pleased to see that the legislation I fought for in Albany has made a difference here in Queens,” Senator Sabini said. “Human trafficking flew under the radar far too long. I commend the Queens District Attorney’s office for their pursuit of justice in crimes involving human trafficking. This heinous crime takes on many forms and affects people from all over the globe, and it’s time New York put its foot down.”
Cases of this horrible offense may be more common than most New Yorkers suspect. Just three years ago, Queens residents were horrified to hear of the infamous “Deaf Mexicans” case, in which the victims were brought to Senator Sabini’s district in western Queens and forced to sell trinkets on the subway during the day and abused and tortured at night. In 2007, two Indonesian domestic workers were found to have been enslaved and abused in Muttontown.
Most infamously, in 2005, the Carreto brothers of Corona pleaded guilty to crimes involving running a forced sex trafficking ring, victimizing poor Korean women.
“It is important to me to make sure the victims in these cases are treated with dignity and sensitivity,” Senator Sabini said. “The victims are not evidence in a crime, they are human beings. We should provide for them the services they need to restore their lives, their health, and their identity, while still assuring them privacy. It’s impossible to comprehend the trauma victims of human trafficking endure. They need our help the most.
“I hope this indictment is the beginning of a thorough crackdown on perpetrators of this crime against humanity,” Senator Sabini continued. “The state of New York won’t tolerate this crime, and will do all it can to protect the victims and punish the guilty.”
|