Bay Shore Man Accused Of Rape, Sex Trafficking: District Attorney

A Suffolk County man accused of sex trafficking and rape, and a woman accused of assisting him, have been indicted on that and related charges, District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney announced Thursday.

Prosecutors alleged Danny St. Louis, 43, of Bay Shore, and Samantha Wimmer, 37, of Central Islip,
engaged in commercial sexual exploitation of two female victims.

“Sex trafficking a human being is heinous and intolerable, and these are serious allegations that we look forward to proving in court,” Tierney said in a statement. “I am committed to ensuring that our vulnerable populations are protected from predators who seek to violate and exploit women and children, by whatever lawful means available.”

According to the investigation, in early 2023, St. Louis met a 13-year-old child through
a mutual acquaintance and provided her with cocaine. Prosecutors allege St. Louis began to communicate with the child regularly and then began to sexually abuse her. During that time, St. Louis introduced the child to crack, causing her to become addicted to the drug, prosecutors said.

The abuse continued until October 2023, after the victim had run away from a residential drug treatment facility and was found by police in a hotel room with St. Louis, prosecutors alleged.

According to the investigation, Wimmer was staying in a separate room in the same hotel.

From that incident, St. Louis was arrested and charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor, and Unlawful Dealing with a Child, a Class A misdemeanor.

St. Louis was arraigned on those charges. While the case was pending, law enforcement continued to probe the full extent of his abuse of the 13-year-old, Tierney said.

Meanwhile, St. Louis was released from jail without bail because endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful dealing with a child are misdemeanor charges and considered non-bail eligible under current New York State law, meaning prosecutors cannot ask for, and judges cannot set bail, Tierney said.

The DA's statement did not say if St. Louis could have afforded bail if it had been set.

Now investigators allege that both before and after the October arrest, St. Louis advertised and sold women for sex several times to various buyers, using heroin and crack cocaine as a method of maintaining control over at least one of the victims.

The alleged crimes took place between March 2023 and March 2024, prosecutors said.

They also allege that Wimmer assisted St. Louis in photographing and advertising the victim they controlled with drugs. Additionally, St. Louis took that victim’s identification and phone to prevent her from leaving or refusing to engage in sex for his own profit, prosecutors said.

St. Louis was arrested again in March.

Prosecutors said that St. Louis arranged on March 3 to have a 20-year-old woman meet him at the hotel room that he and Wimmer were sharing. He gave her crack cocaine, and then would not let her leave the hotel room for two days, prosecutors alleged. At one point, St. Louis accused the victim of stealing crack cocaine from him and forced her to undress, shower, and then have sex with him as punishment, prosecutors said. Wimmer filmed it, and she and St. Louis discussed a plan to use the video as an advertisement to sell the victim to sex buyers, prosecutors alleged.

On March 5, the victim had an opportunity to get away from St. Louis and Wimmer, fled the hotel and called her family.

The family, which had filed a missing person report with authorities, police said, notified the police, who went and recovered the victim.

Prosecutors said both St. Louis and Wimmer were arrested March 14 after Wimmer agreed to provide a buyer with sex and drugs in exchange for money.

St. Louis was indicted on the following charges:

• One count of Rape in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony;
• One count of Criminal Sexual Act in the First Degree, a Class B violent felony;
• Two counts of Sex Trafficking, Class B felonies;
• Two counts of Attempted Sex Trafficking, Class C felonies;
• One count of Use of a Child in a Sexual Performance, a Class C felony;
• One count of Strangulation, a Class D violent felony;
• Ten counts of Criminal Sexual Act in the Second Degree, Class D violent felonies;
• Three counts of Rape in the Second Degree, Class D violent felonies;
• One count of Promoting Prostitution in the Third Degree, a Class D felony;
• One count of Rape in the Third Degree, a Class E felony;
• One count of Criminal Sexual Act in the Third Degree, a Class E felony;
• One count of Possessing a Sexual Performance by a Child, a Class E felony;
• One count of Unlawfully Dealing with a Child, a Class A misdemeanor;
• One count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child, a Class A misdemeanor; and
• One count of Criminal Possession of a Controlled Substance in the Seventh Degree, a Class A misdemeanor.

Wimmer was indicted on the following charges:

• One count of Sex Trafficking, a Class B felony;
• Two counts of Attempted Sex Trafficking, Class C felonies;
• One count of Promoting Prostitution in the Third Degree, a Class D felony; and
• One count of Prostitution, a Class A misdemeanor.

On Thursday, St. Louis and Wimmer were arraigned on the indictment before Supreme Court
Justice Timothy P. Mazzei. St. Louis is being held without bail and is due back in court May 6.

"Mr. St. Louis has entered not guilty pleas to each and every count of the indictment," his attorney, Christopher Charles Brocato, Esq., told Patch. "My office has not yet been provided with any discovery concerning this case and it is difficult to comment any further. However, my client believes once this case is concluded he will be fully exonerated."

Justice Mazzei ordered Wimmer held on $500,000 cash, $1 million bond, or $5 million partially secured bond. She is due back in court on May 9. Patch reached out to her lawyer, Peter Mayer, Esq.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Dana Castaldo and Zachary Kelly of the Human Trafficking, Elder Abuse, Anti-Bias Team (HEAT) Unit, and the investigation was conducted by members of the Suffolk County Police Department’s Human Trafficking Investigations Unit, the First, Third, and Sixth Squads of the Suffolk County Police Department, as well as Detective Investigators from the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office.