Queens Man Pleads Guilty To Attempted Murder Of Trans Woman: DA

NEW YORK — A Queens man pleaded guilty to attempted murder for beating and slashing a transgender woman he was coercing into prostitution, prosecutors announced Friday.

David Viltus, a 30-year-old Cambria Heights resident, pleaded guilty to charges that he had attacked and nearly killed the woman in a Jamaica hotel room, according to the Queens district attorney's office.

Queens prosecutors, who identified the 29-year-old woman as Viltus' girlfriend, said Viltus coerced the woman into prostituting herself and letting him pocket the money.

On April 18, 2018, after the woman refused to continue, Viltus went to the hotel where she was staying and beat her up, according to prosecutors.

After police arrested and charged Viltus with attempted murder, he tried to convince the woman to drop the charges, prosecutors said.

"Our transgender population has faced a tremendous amount of violence all over this country," Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement. "The victim in this case was attempting to free herself from the sex trade industry when the defendant — who was pocketing the money she made — attacked her and could have killed her."

Acting Queens Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone Jr. is expected to sentence the man to 10 years in prison, followed by five years' post-release supervision, prosecutors said.