December 04, 2024
Thom Carroll/For PhillyVoice
Seven people allegedly tied to a pair of human trafficking rings in New Jersey – one in Bridgeton, Cumberland County; the other in Newark, Essex County – have been indicted, prosecutors say.
Seven people allegedly involved in two human trafficking rings that operated in New Jersey have been indicted, Attorney General Matthew Platkin announced Tuesday.
The rings – based in Bridgeton, Cumberland County, and Newark, Essex County – each threatened victims with violence and forced them to perform sexual acts with people who paid for it, Platkin said. Six people accused of operating the rings were indicted Monday; a man who allegedly paid to engage in sexual activity with a teenager was indicted in August.
"There is no tolerance for the exploitation of anyone, especially in this dehumanizing way," Platkin said in a statement. "My office has made the investigation and prosecution of human trafficking a top priority."
In Bridgeton, Usiel Luna, 42, and co-conspirators Jose Perez-Lopez, 40, Rosendo Vazquez-Hernandez, 35, and Yerson Puentes-Marquez, 28, allegedly distributed drugs and operated a brothel in a home on North Laurel Street. They are accused of bringing women from Queens and Paterson, New Jersey each week to the brothel by falsely saying that they'd be working as dancers. Instead, Platkin said, they were forced to perform sexual acts on hundreds of men.
After arriving, the women were told they couldn't leave and they witnessed violent activity, prosecutors said. Police seized methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana and $50,000 in cash from the home, investigators said.
Lune, Perez-Lopez, Vazquez-Hernandez and Puentes-Marquez were indicted by a grand jury.
In Newark, Khailah Meekins, 21, and co-conspirator Donte Barkley, 28, allegedly arranged sexual encounters with three teenagers by posting nude photos of them on smartphone applications. They are accused of using violence to control the teenagers. Platkin said the teens had their hair pulled, were bitten, punched, stomped on and hit with an extension cord.
A third suspect, Richard Johnson, 24, of Irvington, New Jersey, was indicted for aggravated sexual assault and related charges in August for allegedly paying to engage in sexual activity with one of the teenagers.
Both cases were investigated by the Attorney General's Human Trafficking Unit, which was formed in January 2023 to train and assist law enforcement in identifying signs of trafficking and victims.
