NEW YORK, NY – A Queens pair has been indicted by a grand jury for trafficking two underage girls between November of 2021 and February of 2021, according to Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz.
Katz, said the men, acting independently were involved in sex trafficking of the same two teenager girls.
District Attorney Katz said, “The victims, in this case, were just 13 and 16 years old when these two defendants allegedly offered the girls for sex in online advertisements and then lined their own pockets with the cash the two teens were paid to have sex. Both men are now charged with very serious crimes for their alleged actions.”
Court records show Serrano, of Fresh Meadows, and Lopez, of Corona, were both arraigned late yesterday afternoon before Queens Supreme Court Justice David Kirschner on an indictment charging them with sex trafficking of a child, promoting prostitution in the first, second and third-degree and endangering the welfare of a child. Justice Kirschner set the defendants’ return date for April 4, 2022. Serrano and Lopez face up to 25 years in prison, if convicted.
“According to the charges, the defendants drove the victims to various hotels, rented rooms at these establishments and then left the underage girls there to engage in sex for money with customers. The older teen collected the cash and allegedly gave the proceeds to the two defendants,” Katz reported in a statement today.
DA Katz said defendant Lopez, who was an ex-boyfriend of the 16-year-old victim, on February 2, 2022, drove the girls to the Flushing Hotel and allegedly paid for a room and left the two there to have sex in exchange for money with male customers.
According to a statement by Katz’s office:
The following day, said the DA, an undercover police officer responded to one of the many online advertisements for the two teens. He went to the hotel and made a verbal agreement with the 13-year-old for sex in exchange for money. Other officers moved in and rescued both girls from the Flushing Hotel room.