NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — A 38-year-old man was sentenced to 75 years-to-life for kidnapping, raping, and trafficking three women, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg announced Friday.
Alex Jean was convicted of by a state jury of charges that included first-degree rape, first-degree criminal sexual act and sex trafficking.
“Alex Jean’s trafficking operation was extraordinarily brutal, including a pattern of kidnappings and rapes that were intended to dehumanize these women,” Bragg said. “But each was able to escape, and moreover, bravely came forward and testified in open court. I thank them for their inspiring courage, as well as every member of my office that helped put an end to Jean’s crimes.”
In April 2014, Jean met the first survivor when she was released from the hospital. Jean quickly pushed the 19-year-old stranger into an SUV, raped her at gunpoint and eventually drove her to New Jersey, officials said.
Jean cut off the cast on her hand and pulled out metal pins from a previous hand surgery to make her more "appealing" to clients. He then set up prostitution ads and trafficked her, using drugs to control her and other women, and she was often in and out of consciousness.
At one point, she was woken up by a man raping her while Jean held a gun to her head. She was able to escape from a New Jersey motel, prosecutors said.
Jean was incarcerated for a Manhattan burglary from August 2014 to December 2019. Months after his release from prison, Jean met the second survivor, who was escaping a violent relationship in another state.
She consented to work for Jean for a few weeks in order to make enough money to hire an attorney and secure custody of her infant daughter. When she learned that Jean acted violently toward the other women working for him, she fled. Jean tracked her down at a hotel where she was working, kidnapped her, and brought her back to his Harlem apartment, authorities said.
Over the course of the next two days, he repeatedly raped her. She was able to escape by convincing him she would be loyal to him and continue working for him.
Jean met the third survivor in April 2021 outside of Covenant House, a youth shelter in Midtown. He approached the 19-year-old on the street and offered her a job rolling marijuana joints and blunts. She accepted and went with him to his apartment, where he repeatedly violently raped her. He brought her to a downtown Brooklyn hotel, where she was trafficked and raped by multiple men before she was able to escape.
Both survivors contacted the Manhattan D.A.’s Office’s Human Trafficking Unit after the Office publicly announced Jean's indictment for trafficking the third survivor.