Queens Man Charged With Operating Brooklyn Sex Trafficking Ring

BROOKLYN, NY — A 40-year-old Queens man is facing multiple charges in connection with an apparent sex trafficking ring on Pennsylvania Avenue in Brooklyn known as the "Penn Track," according to an indictment unsealed in Brooklyn federal court Tuesday.

Douglas Welch, also known as "Paradise," was arrested and set to be arraigned Monday on charges of sex trafficking by force, sex trafficking conspiracy, interstate prostitution, and promotion of prostitution, according to a news release from the Department of Justice Monday.

"As alleged, Welch has trafficked multiple women for his own financial benefit while boasting about the cruel and brutal violence he has inflicted on the vulnerable victims,” United States Attorney Breon Peace said in the news release. "Running a brazen, open-air commercial sex market in East New York or anywhere else in our district is unacceptable, dangerous to our communities, and especially harmful to women caught in this terrible cycle of abuse."

The Penn Track has for years operated as an open-air market where Welch and others have forced trafficking victims to earn money for them by engaging in commercial sex acts with customers in cars or nearby hotels, officials said.

Court documents allege that Welch recruited women to work on his behalf along the Penn Track and used threats and violence to force those victims to engage in commercial sex with customers, and provide him with the profits.

"Welch routinely threatened his victims with physical violence if they disobeyed his orders, telling one victim, 'if you f*** with the pimping, I’m gonna crack your head' and threatening to 'slap the s***' out of another victim for not listening to him," the news release said.

He also bragged about knocking unconscious trafficking victims who disrespected him or other traffickers, officials said. In one instance, Welch grabbed a woman by the throat and body-slammed her on the sidewalk, according to officials. In another, he allegedly struck a victim with a baseball bat for refusing to engage in prostitution and told another trafficker he wanted to leave a "stain on her brain."

If convicted of the charges, Welch faces a minimum term of 15 years in prison and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

"If you are a victim of trafficking—whether by Welch or someone else—and have information to provide, please contact the FBI, which is prepared to help you regardless of your immigration status, at tips.fbi.gov or call 1-800-CALL-FBI," officials said.