The Bronx District Attorney’s office and the NYPD announced last Thursday the indictment of six people for their alleged involvement in a trafficking ring at the 7 Days Hotel in Unionport.
The investigation, which was led by an undercover NYPD officer posing as a pimp, found that the alleged crimes took place for more than three years — from August 2019 to November 2022. Pimps were supposedly given discounted room rates in exchange for cash tips to hotel employees — who didn’t properly check traffickers’ and women’s identification, or report the activity to the human trafficking victims’ hotline as required by New York state law.
Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark called the alleged scheme “despicable” in last week’s announcement.
“The 7 Days Hotel allegedly profited from the human trafficking of girls and young women, and now employees will be held accountable,” she said. “Hotels should be regulated in a manner where they cannot host criminal activity for years without bearing responsibility.”
The 7 Days Hotel had not responded to a request for comment by the time this story was published.
Clark said according to the investigation, 7 Days Hotel employees were allegedly “paid to look the other way” while pimps trafficked 16 girls and young women over the three-plus year period — seven of whom were underage.
Akeem Lee, Marvin Flint, Anthony Reyes, Golam Rabbani, Robert Olaguibel and Patrick Walker have been charged with a plethora of crimes, among them enterprise corruption, sex trafficking of a child, promoting prostitution, rape, intimidating a victim, and falsifying business records. The defendants include Lee, Flint and Reyes, alleged pimps, and the hotel manager, front desk clerk and security guard — Olaguibel, Rabbani and Walker, respectively.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell said in the announcement that the alleged trafficking ring is an example of “one of society’s most heinous crimes.”
“The NYPD and our law enforcement partners share an unwavering commitment to protecting the survivors of sex trafficking,” Sewell said. “And we will continue to ensure that anyone who seeks to profit through the abuse and exploitation of other people — especially our youth — is held fully accountable.”
According to the DA’s office, Flint was arraigned last week and remanded, and Olaguibel was arrested in Pennsylvania and hasn’t yet been arraigned in court. Walker, Reyes, Rabbani and Lee — who was also remanded on bail — are due back in court on May 18.
Reach Camille Botello at cbotello@schnepsmedia.com. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
