Saturday, December 05, 2020

“Operation Mile High” Investigation: Sex offender CEO of charter jet company pimped out girls as young as 12, called them ‘ghetto rats’ to New York City clients

Accused sex trafficker Paul Alexander, 57
New York Division of Criminal Justice Services


A charter jet company CEO pimped out girls as young as 12 to lecherous clients across New York City, advising them to ply the “ghetto rats” with booze and pot to “make them more cooperative,” prosecutors said.

Convicted sex offender Paul Alexander, 57, showed utter disdain for his young victims, said authorities.

“(They’re) from the Bronx … the poorest county,” he advised his johns, telling them they could win over the girls if they drove them around, fed them and gave them “a couple of dollars,” said prosecutors.

Alexander found himself in handcuffs on Thursday when he struck a deal with the wrong client — an undercover cop, authorities said.

Investigators had been tracking the Bronx man since March when a teen girl came forward and said Alexander had sex trafficked her and other girls, authorities said.

The state Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force and the NYPD’s Human Trafficking Squad launched an investigation, which they dubbed “Operation Mile High” after learning Alexander was listed as the CEO of Central Jet Charter, a private aircraft charter company.

He was arrested in the Bronx after he offered up a 12-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl to the undercover officer for $100 each — or $300 for both.

During the sit down, Alexander showed the cop nude pictures of the girls and called the children on the phone for brief meet-and-greets, officials said.

Alexander was charged with sex trafficking of a child, attempted sex trafficking, endangering the welfare of a child and prostitution. He was ordered held without bail at a Bronx Criminal Court arraignment Friday.

Neither Central Jet Charter nor Alexander’s attorney Bruce Klein returned requests for comment.

Central Jet Charter says it operates under Federal Aviation Administration rules that cover charter plane companies. Central Jet’s graphically wild website claims the company has at least four employees and can arrange trips on all kinds of planes, from single-engine Cessnas to corporate jets.

Alexander’s neighbors in Fordham Heights say young girls often came and went from his apartment.

“He would bring a lot of little girls here — Black, Hispanic, Chinese — he brings women of all types and walks of life, and a lot of girls,” said one who lives below him.

“He never messed with my daughters, thank God, and I’ll tell you why,” the woman said.

“He would make so much noise that I would have to take a broom and bang on the ceiling.

“I could hear everything and I went up there one time with a bat in my hand.”

She told him: “If you ever touch one of my girls or as so much as look at me wrong, I will kill you right here. If you touch a single girl of mine, I will kill you.’”

Alexander responded: “It was nothing, no, no, that’s not true.”

Alexander’s apartment door is covered with stickers depicting princesses, diamonds, and slogans like “Kiss me” and “All you need is love.” The stickers also included bible verses and religious like, “With god everything is possible.”

“We just knew he was trafficking girls,” said another neighbor.

Through the use of hidden recording devices, social media searches and undercover operatives, detectives were able to prove that Alexander had moved his girls around the five boroughs for sex, officials said.

Alexander was added to the state’s Sex Offender Registry after he was arrested in 2003 on charges of kidnapping and having “deviate sexual intercourse” with a 17-year-old girl in Yonkers. He was ultimately convicted of possessing child porn in the case, public records show.

He also did stints in prison for sex abuse in 1992 and for bribery in 2008, court records show.

Investigators currently have no evidence that the jet company boss used his planes to traffic victims outside the city, the Attorney General’s office said.

Thursday’s arrest marks the first time that the state Attorney General has charged someone under a child sex trafficking law signed by Gov. Cuomo in 2018.

The law removes the need for prosecutors to prove that sex trafficking victims under 18 weren’t willing participants.

 
Accused sex trafficker Paul Alexander, 57, was handcuffed Thursday when he struck a deal with an undercover cop, authorities said. (Handout)


BRONX – Attorney General Letitia James today announced the arrest of Paul Alexander, 57, of the Bronx, a Level 3 Sex Offender, for sex trafficking children throughout New York City. Alexander’s arrest is the result of a joint investigation between the Attorney General’s Organized Crime Task Force (OCTF) and the New York City Police Department’s (NYPD) Vice Major Case Squad, Human Trafficking Team. This marks the first time Attorney General James has charged a defendant with the newly enacted crime of Sex Trafficking of a Child, which strengthens prosecutors’ ability to hold sex traffickers accountable.

“There is nothing more reprehensible than sexually exploiting a child,” said Attorney General James. “This individual’s alleged actions jeopardized the health and safety of our children and highlighted the critical need for these new protections that strengthen our ability to hold perpetrators accountable for these gross violations of the law. I thank the NYPD for their partnership in this investigation, and I will continue to use all the tools at my office’s disposal to hold accountable those who seek to abuse our children.”

“The NYPD and our law enforcement partners share a commitment to protect the survivors of child trafficking, and we will continue to fight on behalf of our society’s most vulnerable individuals,” said NYPD Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. “I thank and commend the NYPD detectives involved in this investigation and the New York State Office of the Attorney General for their efforts to ensure child predators are taken off our streets. The NYPD will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to eradicate the trafficking of children in our city and work to bring justice to victims of these heinous crimes.”

The investigation was named “Operation Mile High” after investigators revealed Alexander was listed as the C.E.O. of Central Jet Charter, a private aircraft charter company. Through the use of covert recording devices, social media, and undercover operations, the investigative team determined that Alexander was, in fact, trafficking children across county lines for sex. The initial investigation began in March after a female minor reported Alexander to the NYPD, alleging that Alexander sexually abused her and other underage girls, and promoted them for prostitution to other men. An undercover police officer met with Alexander who charged him a total of $300 for sexual intercourse with a 12-year-old victim and a 14-year-old victim — and encouraged the undercover officer to use alcohol and marijuana to make the victims more cooperative.

The defendant was arraigned today before Bronx County Criminal Court Judge Michael Hartofilis on a felony complaint, in which he is charged with multiple counts of Sex Trafficking of a Child, Attempted Sex Trafficking of a Child, related counts of First and Second Degrees of Promoting Prostitution, and two counts of Endangering the Welfare of a Child. Alexander faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of the top counts. Additionally, he was remanded and ordered to return to court on December 8, 2020. Both Sex Trafficking of a Child and First Degree Promoting Prostitution are class B felonies, and Sex Trafficking of a Child is a violent felony offense.

The felony complaint charge against the defendant is an allegation, and the defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law. 

Attorney General James thanks Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark for her office’s assistance in this investigation. 

The NYPD investigation was led by Detectives Antonio Pagan and Liam O’Hara, under the supervision of Lieutenant Amy Capogna, who oversees the NYPD’s Vice Enforcement Unit of the Human Trafficking Team. Captain Thomas Milano is the Executive Officer and Inspector Neteis Gilbert is the Commanding Officer of the Vice Enforcement Division.

The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) investigation was led by OCTF Investigator Ramon Almodovar and Supervising Investigator Paul Grzegorski, under the supervision of OCTF Assistant Chief John Sullivan and since-retired Deputy Chief Christopher Vasta. The Investigations Division is led by Chief Oliver Pu-Folkes.

The OAG case is being prosecuted by OCTF Assistant Deputy Attorney General Caitlin Carroll, with assistance from Analyst Stephanie Tirado, under the supervision of Deputy Bureau Chief Lauren Abinanti and aided by Crime Victims Assistance Coordinator Priscilla Tavares. Nicole Keary is the Deputy Attorney General in Charge of OCTF. The Division for Criminal Justice is led by Chief Deputy Attorney General Jose Maldonado and overseen by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy.

2 comments:

  1. This guy looks like he could use a nice knuckle sandwich. If it was my daughter he was found guilty of trafficking (none of these present allegations have been proven in a court of law - though he is a registered sex offender) he'd be looking at getting the entire smorgasbord, not just the sandwich. Kudos to the downstairs neighbor with the bat in her hand. It's not only him, of course - it's also the pigs who use this guy's services.

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  2. Put this waste of life to death, he has crossed a line where he no longer should live...period.

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