Ex-con charged with 'renting' girls to brothel
BY CURTIS L. TAYLOR AND KAREN FREIFELD
STAFF WRITER
February 17, 2005,
An ex-convict was indicted yesterday on charges that he repeatedly had sex with an ******** girl while lending her to a brothel for a daily fee.
Edward Figueroa, 23, pleaded not guilty during his arraignment in State Supreme Court in Manhattan.
He was charged with promoting prostitution; 21 counts of criminal sex acts; 18 counts of rape; and one count each of intimidating and tampering with a witness, according to the 15-page indictment.
Figueroa allegedly had sex with the teen, whose name was withheld from court papers, and lent her to Julie's of New York, a Manhattan brothel, from May 24 to July 6, the indictment alleges.
Figueroa remained in jail on $200,000 bail, officials said.
His lawyer, Stuart Birbach, declined to comment, saying he had not yet discussed the case with his client.
Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bassiur alleged that Figueroa got paid on a daily basis for renting the 17-year-old girl to Julie Moya, who is facing charges that she operated a midtown brothel that grossed millions of dollars.
"The defendant was a supplier of at least one of the ******** girls into the prostitution ring ... got a percent of what the girl made," Bassiur said.
Figueroa also tried to intimidate an informant in the case, Bassiur alleged.
Bassiur said Figueroa was convicted of a drug charge in December 2002.
If convicted of the current top count of promoting prostitution, he faces a minimum of 3 to 6 years in prison.
Moya was charged this month in a 56-count indictment, including 25 counts of statutory rape and 28 counts of criminal sex acts, all for sex involving ******** girls.
Moya faces up to 15 years if convicted of the most serious charges of promoting prostitution for allegedly forcing girls as young as 15 to have sex with her clients.
Prosecutors believe she ran the prostitution ring for 10 years.
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