A Queens couple and their sick pal forced a young Colombian mom into prostitution — telling her she had to pay off a $14,000 fee to bring her 10-year-old daughter to the US, prosecutors said Thursday.
Kwai Ling Chan, 47, and her 38-year-old husband, Bobby Chen, were indicted on sex trafficking charges for the sordid scam that allegedly forced the Colombian mother to sell herself to strangers for months out of a Flushing apartment, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a press release.
The pair and accused accomplice Tashi Chimchu, 34, even threatened the victim’s 6-year-old daughter, who was already in the US, if the mom didn’t comply with their sick demands, the DA said.
“My office is committed to fighting back against the exploitation of Queens residents,” Katz said in a statement. “Too often, sex trafficking victims are made to feel as though they have no other choice but to comply with abusive demands.”
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Prosecutors said Chan met the woman in June, and promised to reunite her with her young daughter — for a $14,000 fee that she would have to work off as a masseuse at the Union Street apartment.
The desperate mom agreed and was forced to surrender her passport and her younger daughter’s, assuring her that she would not be required to have sex with customers.
But Chan and Chen soon reneged on the deal, forcing her to have sex with clients “several days a week” between July 6 and Sept. 4, even increasing the fee over a purported infraction, the DA said.
The mom’s torture only ended after an NYPD undercover operation nabbed the scammers.
Chan and Chen, of Elmhurst, were arraigned this week on six counts of sex trafficking and four counts of promoting prostitution, and are being held at Rikers Island pending a Nov. 12 court appearance.
Chimchu, of Forest Hills, was indicted on three counts of sex trafficking, two counts of promoting prostitution and unlawfully possessing noxious material.
Records show he is being held on $500,000 bail and will be arraigned at a future date.
