SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y. (1010 WINS) — A years-long investigation led to the indictment of a Suffolk County Police officer and local schoolteacher who allegedly managed sex workers at a Long Island brothel, the district attorney’s office announced Tuesday.
Officer George Trimigliozzi and Islip Public Schools teacher Steven Arey were indicted alongside the alleged leader of the Long Island prostitution ring, Frank Saggio, and his girlfriend, Dana Ciardullo.
“I made a commitment to this County that no one is above the law, and that includes those who are supposed to embody the best of public service,” Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said. “The allegations in this indictment describe a long-term pattern of organized criminal activity and a shocking betrayal of public trust.”
According to the investigation, between Oct. 2019 and June 2024, Saggio, 60, led a criminal enterprise that profited off prostitution at two brothels, one in Holbrook and another in West Babylon.
Trimigliozzi, 55, and Arey, 53, are accused of promoting prostitution by serving as “managers” for Saggio at a building on Sunrise Highway in Holbrook known as the American Girls Spa “Suite 3.”
Their duties included hiring sex workers, collecting money from sex workers (known as “house fees”) and posting advertisements seeking prostitution patrons, prosecutors said.
Arey, who has taught at the Islip School District for 26 years, is charged with enterprise corruption and 27 counts of promoting prostitution.
In a letter sent to the Islip Public Schools community, acting Superintendent Kathleen O’Callaghan said that the district is aware of the charges, and that Arey had been “administratively reassigned to home before the school year began.”
“We have been informed by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office that the issue under their investigation does not include the involvement of Islip students, nor does it have a direct connection to School District operations,” she wrote. O’Callaghan also committed the district’s cooperation to law enforcement,
In addition to managing the brothel, Trimigliozzi is accused of covering up an alleged robbery that occurred on March 19, 2021 at the American Girls Spa. According to the investigation, a customer was robbed while waiting for prostitution services, and the sex worker notified Trimigliozzi who then “abandoned his post” in the Third Precinct to respond.
He went in his marked patrol car to the brothel in the Fifth Precinct, driving nearly 90 miles per hour. Prosecutors said that he then falsified paperwork with the department by not disclosing his response nor his “outside employment” managing the alleged brothel.
Trimigliozzi, an 18-year police veteran, is charged with enterprise corruption, 13 counts of promoting prostitution, falsifying business records, offering a false instrument for filing and official misconduct.
Authorities said that the American Girls Spa also contained two additional brothels allegedly managed by Saggio, Spa “Suite 4” and Reiki for Healing “Suite 5.”
Ciardullo, 32, allegedly managed another location in West Babylon known as Tunnel of Love on Saggio’s behalf.
Saggio is charged with enterprise corruption and 51 counts of promoting prostitution. He was also hit with two sex trafficking charges for allegedly having sex workers who could not read nor speak English sign “leases” requiring they pay $6,000 per month in “rent” at Suite 4 and $12,000 at Tunnel of Love.
Ciardullo is charged with enterprise corruption and 27 counts of promoting prostitution.
All four suspects are facing 8 and one-third years to 25 years in prison if convicted on the top count. They will return to court on Dec. 9.