Thursday, March 31, 2005
D.A. BROWN: JAMAICA MAN SENTENCED TO UP TO SIX YEARS IN PRISON FOR ATTEMPTING TO PROSTITUTE 13-YEAR-OLD
Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown announced today that a Jamaica man has been sentenced to up to six years in prison for attempting to promote the prostitution of a 13-year-old.
District Attorney Brown said, “The defendant has admitted his guilt, waived appeal and acknowledged that he committed the crime of trying to prostitute his victim –- a 13-year-old child –- in a life of exploitation and degradation. The prison term imposed by the court is more than warranted.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Barrington Heffenden, 30, of 114-22 158th Street in Jamaica, Queens. The defendant pled guilty on March 9, 2005 to Attempted Promoting Prostitution in the Second Degree and admitted that he had tried to advance or profit from prostitution of a person less than 16 years old. He was sentenced earlier today to an indeterminate term of from three years to six years in prison before Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Dorothy Chin Brandt.
District Attorney Brown said that in January detectives executed a court-authorized search warrant prepared by the District Attorney’s Special Proceedings Bureau at the defendant’s Jamaica residence, found the 13-year-old girl inside and arrested the defendant.
The investigation was conducted by New York City Police Department Detectives Richard Soto and Carl Martello of the Vice Enforcement Division, Child Recovery Unit; Detectives Richard Santangelo and Rick Perez of the Queens Special Victims Squad under the command of Lieutenant Arthur Hall; the Missing Persons and Extradition Squad under the command of Lieutenant Joseph Williams and Suffolk County Police Department Detectives Thomas McDougal and William LeStrange.
Assistant District Attorney Susan Lee Kim of the District Attorney's Special Proceedings Bureau prosecuted the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys Anthony M. Communiello, Bureau Chief, and Oscar W. Ruiz, Deputy Bureau Chief, and the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Peter A. Crusco and Deputy Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Linda M. Cantoni.