Crime & Safety
3 Long Islanders Charged in Human Trafficking, Prostitution Operation
Police found three young girls, all human trafficking victims, being forced to engage in prostitution at a motel, officials say.
Three Long Island residents, including an 18- and 19-year-old, as well as a New Jersey woman, have been arrested and charged with running a human trafficking and prostitution operation in New Jersey, authorities announced.
The South Hackensack Police Department received a report Sunday of women being forced to prostitute themselves at a borough motel, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said in a news release.
Police and the prosecutor's office Special Victims Unit investigated the report and located three juvenile female victims of human trafficking, who had been transported to a South Hackensack motel for the purposes of engaging in prostitution, Grewal said.
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Following an investigation, four people were arrested on Wednesday:
Edwin A. Boneta, 22, of Central Islip, and Jefferson Contreras, 18, of Bay Shore, were each charged with three counts of human trafficking, three counts of promoting prostitution of a juvenile, and endangering the welfare of a child.
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Selena Boneta, 19, of West Babylon, was charged with three counts each of human trafficking and endangering the welfare of a child.
The three were arrested in Suffolk County, the prosecutor said. They were scheduled to be arraigned Thursday morning in Suffolk County and will be lodged in the Suffolk County Correctional Facility pending extradition to New Jersey.
Stephanie Boneta, 23, of Paterson, New Jersey, was charged with three counts each of facilitation of human trafficking endangering the welfare of a child. Superior Court Judge Susan J. Steele set her bail at $225,000 with no 10 percent option.
Boneta is to have no contact with the victims and their families, and she must surrender her passport if released on bail, Grewal said. She was remanded to the Bergen County Jail in lieu of bail.
Photos courtesy of the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office: (clockwise from top left) Jefferson Contreras, Edwin A. Boneta, Selena Boneta and Stephanie Boneta.
Written by Daniel Hubbard
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