Press Release

Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz announced that Valezka Echeverrias was indicted by a grand jury on charges of sex trafficking, grand larceny, and other charges for allegedly forcing a woman to engage in prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue and to pay the defendant a daily sum of money. The defendant is additionally indicted on charges of coercion and promoting prostitution in the fourth degree for extorting another victim by requiring a daily sum of money.

Echeverrias was previously indicted in November 2024 for allegedly forcing a transgender woman to engage in prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue and attempting to extort another victim.

District Attorney Katz said: “Human trafficking is a violent, dehumanizing trade that exploits and destroys lives. The defendant is accused of terrorizing numerous victims along Roosevelt Avenue, forcing them to engage in sex acts and profiting from their misery. She has remained in custody since the November 2024 indictment and will have to answer for the serious charges levied against her by my office.”

Echeverrias, 31, of 80^th Street in Jackson Heights, was arraigned Friday on an 11-count indictment charging her with three counts of sex trafficking, grand larceny in the second degree, grand larceny in the second degree, two counts of promoting prostitution in the second degree and promoting prostitution in the fourth degree.

Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone ordered the defendant to return to court on September 18. If convicted of the top count, Echeverrias faces a potential maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

DA Katz said that, according to the indictment, around November 2022, Echeverrias paid for the victim to come to New York from Mexico and live with the defendant for approximately six months. During that time, the victim was forced to pay Echeverrias $800 a night by having sex with various men on Roosevelt Avenue.

The victim was also coerced into robbing the men to meet the daily quota set by the defendant. The victim was physically hit and slapped when she did not comply.

Echeverrias is additionally charged with extorting another victim at the location in 2023 by forcing the woman to pay the defendant $100 a day to engage in prostitution on Roosevelt Avenue. The victim was threatened with physical harm – including threats of being run over by a vehicle or being pepper sprayed – if she did not pay or went to the authorities.

Assistant District Attorney Felicia Thomas of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Bureau is prosecuting the case under the supervision of Assistant District Attorney Jessica Melton, Bureau Chief, and Marilyn Filingeri, Assistant Deputy Bureau Chief, under the overall supervision of Executive Assistant District Attorney for Investigations Gerard A. Brave.