The first person to be charged under a New York sex trafficking statute has pleaded guilty to forcing three teenagers into prostitution.
Queens District Attorney Richard Brown says Woodley Gaston faces three to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to sex trafficking and other charges.
Authorities said he used intimidation and even death threats to force a 16-year-old girl into prostitution and then advertised her services on the Internet. He also was charged with similar offenses against another 16-year-old and an 18-year-old woman.
The law took effect in November 2007. It focuses on those who exploit girls and women in brothels, in massage parlors and online.
It was signed into law by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer, who later resigned in a prostitution scandal.
