NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – A Queens man pleaded guilty to sex trafficking charges for targeting and exploiting a migrant teenager into prostitution and paying her for sex, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced on Friday.
Alfredo Morocho, for months, brokered sex encounters between customers and the teen at locations around Queens, then pocketed money from the encounters, prosecutors said.
“This defendant brazenly sex trafficked an underage child around Queens County and made money off her degrading sexual encounters,” Katz said.
According to court documents, Morocho met the 17-year-old survivor and her friends at a deli in Jamaica in November 2023. After telling Morocho of her age, he told her he could get her prostitution customers. Morocho later asked for semi-nude photos of the victim to send to customers.
Between Dec. 1 and March 5, Morocho picked the victim up at her migrant shelter and drove her to an apartment in Corona and to other locations to engage in sex for money, prosecutors said. For the sexual encounters, customers gave Morocho cash, which he controlled and gave the survivor half only at the end of the day.
In addition to profiting from her prostitution, Morocho paid for sex with the victim between November and March. On March 6, Morocho arrived with the survivor at the Renaissance New York Flushing Hotel at Tangram. Upon arriving, Morocho met with an undercover officer to negotiate the price of sex with the victim and was placed under arrest.
Morocho was in possession of a business card advertising “in-calls” with a phone number linked to hundreds of online prostitution advertisements, according to prosecutors.
Morocho, 38, of Corona, pleaded guilty to two counts of sex trafficking of a child, five counts of promoting prostitution in the second and third degrees, and two counts of patronizing a person in prostitution in the third degree.
“He exploited a child and will now serve eight years in prison. My office is dedicated to eradicating sex trafficking in our communities, and we stand with the survivors as we dismantle this harmful industry.”
He was also charged in a criminal complaint with bail jumping in the second degree after failing to appear in court after a 2018 arrest.