Sentence in Sex Worker Abduction Case

A Yonkers man was sentenced in White Plains federal court to 270 months in prison for kidnapping a 19-year-old, conspiring and attempting to engage in sex trafficking of her.

Clydedoro Graham was convicted in November 2014 after a seven-day jury trial before United States District Judge Nelson S. Román, who imposed Thursday's sentence.

“Clydedoro Graham orchestrated a horrifying plot to lure a 19-year-old woman to his apartment, hold her against her will, and coerce her—through repeated sexual assault and other physical and psychological pressure—to work as a prostitute for him," Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in the announcement. A unanimous jury convicted him of kidnapping and sex trafficking, and today, the Court imposed a significant sentence that reflects the viciousness of the defendant’s crimes.”

According to the allegations in the Complaint and Superseding Indictment filed in federal court, and the evidence presented at trial, Graham cooked up an idea with his girlfriend Alisa Papp, his cousin, Kevin Graham, and his friend, Hector Garcia, to lure a prostitute to Graham's apartment and forcing her to work for them.

He went to Backpage.com, a website where prostitutes post advertisements, trolled through the advertisements searching for a target, and eventually decided on the 19-year-old. Kevin Graham called the Victim and led her to believe that he wanted to hire her for a prostitution “date.”

Papp served as the lookout, making sure the woman did not arrive with anyone else. Kevin Graham met her outside and led her into the apartment, while Graham and Garcia hid inside. They took away her purse and phone, removed the battery from her phone, and told her that she was there to work as a prostitute for them. The Victim asked repeatedly to leave, but co-conspirators told the victim that she had no choice but to have sex with each of the men. She refused and asked again to go home. They took turns having sex with the victim against her will.

For the next two days and two nights, Graham and Papp held her captive in the apartment. Among other coercive measures, he removed the doorknob from the interior side of the front door to prevent her from escaping.

The scheme unraveled on June 18, 2014, when two Yonkers police officers arrived at the apartment after receiving a tip from individuals who had been searching for the woman. The officers demanded to speak with the Victim, immediately determined that she was being held against her will, and brought her to safety.

In addition to 22 years in prison, the sentence also includes three years of supervised release for Graham, 28.

Bharara praised the outstanding investigative work of the FBI’s Westchester Violent Crimes Task Force, which comprises agents and detectives of the FBI, United States Probation, the City of Yonkers Police Department, the City of Peekskill Police Department, the New York City Police Department, the Westchester County Police, and the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office.

The prosecution is being handled by the Office’s White Plains Division. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Douglas Zolkind and Kathryn Martin are in charge of the prosecution.