By Tiffany Williams –
In 2000, the United States government initiated a comprehensive campaign against human trafficking with the enactment of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act, marking a significant turning point in the nation’s efforts to combat this issue. Twenty-four years thereafter, human trafficking persists as a pervasive problem, and from high profile cities in the United States to remote locations around the world, child sex trafficking is a relatively silent epidemic that impacts communities everywhere.
But the men and women of the New York City Police Department remain dedicated to eradicating sex trafficking in New York City. Detective Michael McGovern and Detective Kevin Deleon are assigned to a special unit within the NYPD called the Human Trafficking Squad.
One case detectives McGovern and Deleon worked on was Alfredo Morocho, 38, of 110th Street in Corona. Morocho met a 17-year-old victim and her friends at a deli in Jamaica Queens in November 2023. After learning the young girls age, Morocho told her he could get her prostitution customers and later asked for semi-nude photos of the girl to send to customers.
From December 1, 2023, to March 5, 2024, Morocho picked the girl up at her migrant shelter and drove her to an apartment in Corona and to other locations to engage in sex for money. Customers gave Morocho money for the sexual encounters, which he controlled and gave the victim half only at the end of the day.
Little did Morocho know that on March 6, 2024, the next customer he was about to meet was an undercover New York City Police Officer.
At the Renaissance New York Flushing Hotel at Tangram, Morocho met the undercover officer, and after negotiating the price of sex with the young girl, he was taken into custody. At the time of his arrest, Morocho was in possession of a business card advertising “in-calls” with a phone number linked to hundreds of online prostitution advertisements.
Last week, on Thursday, October 3, Morocho pleaded guilty to sex trafficking charges for targeting and exploiting the migrant teenager into prostitution and paying her for sex. Morocho pleaded guilty before Judge Peter Vallone, Jr. to two counts of sex trafficking of a child, five counts of promoting prostitution in the second and third degrees, and two counts of patronizing a person in prostitution in the third degree.
On October 24, 2024, Morocho is scheduled to be back in court and is expected to receive a sentence of eight years in prison.