By Tiffany Williams –
Last Thursday, February 20th, at Queens County Supreme Court in Kew Gardens, New York, Gil Iphael, 25, of Valley Stream, New York pleaded guilty to two counts of kidnapping in the second degree, two counts of robbery in the first degree and one count of promoting prostitution in the second degree.
On three separate dates in 2023, Gil Iphael and Destiny Lebron enticed victims to go to a location for sex, then detained, assaulted, and robbed them. In one instance, Iphael beat a victim and threatened to mutilate him, and in another, he stole a man’s car after beating him.
July 30, 2022, Iphael and Lebron went to pick up a woman whom Lebron had befriended on Instagram a few months earlier. The two had exchanged messages of a sexual nature and photos and engaged in prostitution-related conversations. When Lebron asked her to engage in prostitution, the victim declined. Lebron continued to call and message the victim over two days, and the two agreed to meet. Iphael and Lebron took the woman to the Quality Inn hotel at 153-95 Rockaway Blvd., where the woman was told that she would have to either help Iphael and Lebron rob victims lured there by Lebron posing as a prostitute, or she would have to engage in prostitution herself and turn over her profits to the defendants.
When the victim refused, Iphael and Lebron slapped, punched, and threatened her. They forced the victim to take pictures of herself and used photos saved in her phone for online prostitution ads. That evening, several clients appeared at the hotel and engaged in prostitution activity with the victim. Iphael and Lebron kept all proceeds collected from the clients. The victim managed to escape on July 31 when she was left unattended in the hotel room.
On August 6, 2022, another victim, a male in his 50s, answered a prostitution ad featuring a photo of Lebron and met her in a hotel room. After the victim had paid her to have sex and began to undress, Lebron threw bleach in his face. She opened the door to let in Iphael, who covered the victim’s head with a blanket and began punching him and demanding money. Iphael and Lebron restrained the victim and continued assaulting him for several hours. Iphael reached into a bag and threatened to kill the victim, leading the victim to believe Iphael had a gun. Iphael and Lebron took the victim’s car keys, phone, and wallet. When the victim refused to unlock his phone, Lebron burned him with a curling iron until he complied.
Iphael and Lebron attempted to transfer the victim’s money electronically before making multiple trips to ATM machines to make withdrawals from the victim’s account using his bank card. They also stole the man’s car. The defendants broke one of the man’s toes and repeatedly threatened to kill the victim’s family if he reported the crime to police.
On August 14, 2022, a third victim, a male in his 20s, answered a prostitution ad featuring a photo of Lebron. The man was instructed to meet Lebron at a location in Queens. Once there, after the victim had agreed to pay her to have sex and began to undress, Iphael and Lebron beat the man, attempted to cut off his toe, and threatened to cut off his genitals Iphael and Lebron restrained the victim and continued assaulting him, often while holding a pillow over his face. Iphael and Lebron took turns taking the victim’s debit card and going to a nearby ATM to withdraw money. The defendants took the victim’s wallet, debit card, driver’s license, money, and other personal items.
Iphael and Lebron repeatedly threatened to kill the victim’s family if he reported the crime to police.
In 2023, Destiny Lebron pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 13 years in prison to be followed by five years post-release supervision.
On March 4, 2025, Supreme Court Justice Peter Vallone is expected to sentence Iphael to 20 years in prison and five years post release supervision.