Essex County Woman Helped To Sell Teen Prostitute On Backpage.com: Prosecutor

ESSEX COUNTY, NJ — An Essex County woman has pleaded guilty to a human trafficking charge for helping to prostitute a 16-year-old girl who was allegedly trafficked from New York to New Jersey as part of a ring advertised on Backpage.com.

Ernestine Bowman, 32, of Orange, pleaded guilty Wednesday to a charge of second-degree facilitating human trafficking, according to the New Jersey Office of the Attorney General.

Bowman was indicted in April 2015 along with four other defendants, including her husband and her son, as a result of an investigation by the Division of Criminal Justice and the South Hackensack Police Department.

The suspects allegedly conspired to traffic the 16-year-old girl from Brooklyn, N.Y., to northern New Jersey and make her work as a prostitute at motels in South Hackensack and Clifton, prosecutors stated.

According to prosecutors, the investigation began as an undercover operation by the South Hackensack Police Department targeting a prostitution ring that advertised on Backpage.com.

“Such rings typically offer ‘escort services’ and display nude or semi-nude photos of young women,” prosecutors stated.

As part of the investigation, an undercover officer responded to an advertisement that included a photo of a very young-looking female with her breasts exposed. The officer phoned the number in the ad on Oct. 1, 2014, and a woman allegedly told him that he could have “full sex” for $160 cash at a motel on Route 46 in South Hackensack, prosecutors stated.

According to prosecutors, the undercover officer arrived at the motel and was directed to a room, where a teenage girl answered the door. She allegedly repeated that the price of “full sex” was $160 and accepted $160 cash from the undercover officer.

Prosecutors said that when the officer asked why the bathroom door was closed, he learned that there was a woman in the bathroom, who turned out to be Tokina Williams. The teenage girl then invited Williams to come out and told her that the client had paid to have sex with both of them.

At that time, backup officers entered and arrested Williams and the teenage girl, prosecutors said.

The teenage girl was determined to be a 16-year-old who was reported missing out of New York, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege that in addition to Bowman, her husband, Glen Bowman Sr., 41, and Jessica Renee Copeland, 28, both of Newark, Bowman’s step-son, Glen Bowman Jr., 22, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Tokina Williams, 33, of Raleigh, N.C., conspired together as part of the alleged sex scheme.

According to prosecutors:

“[Bowman] met Glen Bowman Jr., in Brooklyn, N.Y., several months earlier and he allegedly conspired with his father to traffic her to New Jersey to work in a prostitution ring that the father, Glen Sr., allegedly ran with Ernestine Bowman. Copeland, who went by the nickname ‘China White,’ allegedly acted as boss or ‘bottom’ over the prostitutes in the ring. It is alleged that both Glen Bowman Sr. and Copeland threatened the 16-year-old victim with physical violence on at least one occasion if she did not follow their rules and perform to their expectations. The defendants allegedly drove the victim and others who worked as prostitutes to hotels and motels in South Hackensack, Clifton and other locations in northern New Jersey, where they serviced clients. At the end of the day, the defendants allegedly picked them up and collected the money they had been paid.”

As part of the scheme, the 16-year-old victim generally was required to work from Monday through Friday as a prostitute and spent weekends at an apartment in the Bronx, N.Y.

Williams allegedly was a prostitute who also was involved in supervising the underage girl and collecting her proceeds at the end of the day, prosecutors said.

Glen Bowman Sr. and Copeland were arrested in August 2014 in New York on an indictment filed by the Bronx District Attorney’s Office charging them with sexually trafficking two adult women in New York and New Jersey in 2012 and 2013 as part of their alleged prostitution ring.

According to prosecutors, after Bowman Sr. and Copeland were arrested, Ernestine Bowman took on a greater leadership role in the prostitution ring, making hotel reservations, transporting the 16-year-old victim to hotels and supplying her with condoms and lingerie outfits to wear. Bowman also allegedly went to the hotels to collect the money earned by the victim and other prostitutes.

Under the plea agreement, the state will recommend that Bowman be sentenced to 10 years in state prison, including 39 months of parole ineligibility.

Bowman is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 23.

“This plea ensures that the defendant will face a lengthy term behind bars for her role in the brutal sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old runaway,” said Attorney General Christopher Porrino. “Bowman helped her husband trap a vulnerable girl in a miserable life of sexual slavery, where the victim faced threats of violence if she did not meet the demands of her captors.”

“Our department has been committed to conducting these undercover operations to flush out the criminality of prostitution and narcotics in our motels,” said Chief Joseph Terraccino of the South Hackensack Police Department.

First-degree charges of conspiracy, human trafficking and promoting prostitution of a minor are pending against Glen Bowman Sr. and Copeland, prosecutors said.

Glen Bowman Jr. previously pleaded guilty to second-degree conspiracy to promote prostitution and faces a recommended sentence of seven years in prison.

Williams previously pleaded guilty to second-degree promoting prostitution.

Authorities urged anyone who suspects that individuals are engaged in sex- or labor-related human trafficking to confidentially report such activity by calling the Division of Criminal Justice’s 24-hour NJ Human Trafficking Hotline 877-986-7534.

Photo: Flickr Commons, Buzzfarmers