Crime & Safety
Man Prostituted Young Women In Prospect Heights Apartment: DA, Reports
A man accused of sex trafficking women as young as 14 years old was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
PROSPECT HEIGHTS, NY — A man accused of sex trafficking young women out of a Prospect Heights apartment will spend 21 years behind bars, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace announced Friday.
Joseph Harris, 41, of Brooklyn, forced women as young as 14 to have sex for money — and he kept them trapped in his apartment on St. Mark's Place in Prospect Heights, according to Peace and NY Daily News.
Harris took all the womens' earnings and violently punished them for hiding any money — he dragged one woman through a pool of bleach for withholding money, according to prosecutors.
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Harris also had sex with the women he held, including underage women, and gave them drugs, according to Peace.
Police were tipped off after multiple callers reported girls being held in Harris' apartment. At his apartment, police found two adult victims, a 16-year-old girl, a 17-year-old's birth certificate and a loaded gun, according to Peace.
Find out what's happening in Prospect Heights-Crown Heightsfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Harris — also known as "Luis Santana" and "Joey Moscato" — was arrested in 2018, and his crimes go back to July 2017, according to Peace.
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