Brothers sentenced in Queens gunpoint sex-trafficking case

Two brothers have been sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to various charges related to a gunpoint sex-trafficking case centered in Queens.

Evan Hernandez, 25, and his brother Richard Hernandez, 27, forced a 25-year-old woman into prostitution after they “bought” her for $200 at the Queens Motor Inn in Woodside, District Attorney Richard A. Brown stated, adding that the brothers have now received indeterminate prison sentences ranging from three to nine years based on prostitution and sex-trafficking convictions.

“The sentences imposed by the court punish both defendants for their actions and send a clear message that crimes such as these will not be tolerated in Queens County,” Brown said in a statement.

Evan Hernandez was introduced to the victim in April 2014 by a woman he claimed “sold” the victim to him for $200 to work as a prostitute, which he forced her to do over the course of the next five days at the Motor Inn.

Holding a gun to the victim’s head, Evan Hernandez forced her to have sex with him and his brother and to perform oral sex on him, the district attorney stated.

She was also forced to prostitute herself to numerous men, the money from which she turned over to the Hernandez brothers, and had an advertisement with her picture placed on Backpage.com.

The victim eventually managed to use a client’s phone to call her mother, who called 911 and gave police the victim’s location, the DA reported.

“This case makes it abundantly clear that prostitution is not a victimless crime but a terrifying and despicable offense against society – and the young women that it enslaves,” Brown said.