Five Charged with Trafficking Teen Girl to N.J. as Part of Prostitution Ring

Five people have been indicted on human trafficking and prostitution charges for allegedly prostituting a runaway 16-year-old girl who was trafficked from New York to New Jersey, authorities said.

Ernestine Bowman, 31, Glen Bowman Sr., 40, Glen Bowman Jr., 20, Jessica Renee Copeland, 26, Tokina Williams, 31, allegedly attempted to lure the 16-year-old, a Brooklyn, New York resident, into a life of prostitution, said Acting Attorney General John Hoffman.

“We charged that they ruthlessly did what human traffickers always do to turn an illicit profit, which is to target vulnerable victims, deprive them of any benevolent support, and conscript them to modern-day slavery,” Hoffman said.

The investigation began with an undercover investigation by the South Hackensack Police Department targeting a prostitution ring that advertised on backpage.com.

An undercover police officer responded to an advertisement with a photo of the 16-year-old with her breasts exposed, Hoffman said. The officer then called the phone number on the ad on Oct.1, 2014; a woman told him the officer could have “full-sex” for $160 cash, Hoffman said.

Authorities said the officer went to a South Hackensack hotel on Route 46 and met the 16-year-old in a room who told him he could have “full sex” with her for $160. Tokina Williams Williams came out of a bathroom in the room and was told by the girl that the officer paid her to have sex with both of them. Williams and the girl were arrested by police officers at the scene, Hoffman said.

Authorities allege that the girl met Glen Bowman Jr. in Brooklyn, who conspired with his father to traffic the girl to New Jersey and make her work in motels in South Hackensack and Clifton; Williams was allegedly a prostitute who helped supervise the teenage girl and collected her earnings.

Ernestine Bowman allegedly took over a greater responsibility in running the prostitution ring when Glen Bowman Sr. and Copeland were arrested in August 2014 on sexual trafficking charges. She is being held in the Bergen County Jail on $200,000 bail. Arrest warrants were issued for Williams and Glen Bowman Jr. Friday. They are fugitives.

The five defendants were charged with first-degree conspiracy, human trafficking, and promoting prostitution charges.