Four people, including a police officer and a high school teacher, have been charged with running a prostitution ring that operated two brothels on Long Island over nearly five years.
The brothels were run out of “suites” in a building in Holbrook and a sex-toy store in West Babylon, according to the Suffolk County district attorney, whose office announced the charges on Tuesday.
“It is a sad day in law enforcement when a public servant is arrested,” said Raymond A. Tierney, the district attorney. “The allegations in this indictment describe a long-term pattern of organized criminal activity and a shocking betrayal of public trust.”
The leader of the enterprise, prosecutors said, was Frank Saggio, 60, of West Islip, who was charged with 51 felony counts of promoting prostitution, according to a news release. He was also charged with sex trafficking and enterprise corruption, the release said.
Also indicted were the police officer, George Trimigliozzi, 55, of Islip; the teacher, Steven Arey, 53, also of Islip; and Dana Ciardullo, 32, of North Bellmore. Prosecutors said the three advertised prostitution services, hired people to work at the brothels and collected the proceeds. They were each charged with numerous felony counts of promoting prostitution and with enterprise corruption.
All four defendants have pleaded not guilty, according to court documents. Their lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Trimigliozzi, an 18-year veteran of the Suffolk County Police Department, and Mr. Arey, a 26-year employee of the Islip school district, worked for Mr. Saggio as managers for a building on Sunrise Highway in Holbrook called the American Girls Spa, which contained three prostitution “suites,” prosecutors said. Ms. Ciardullo managed the other brothel location, a store called the Tunnel of Love in West Babylon, Mr. Tierney said.
The sex-trafficking charges against Mr. Saggio were related to allegations that he required workers at his brothels to engage in prostitution in order to pay him a minimum amount of money each month, prosecutors said. Some who could not speak or read English were made to sign “leases” that required them to pay thousands of dollars each month in purported rent that hid profits from the prostitution ring, Mr. Tierney said at a news conference on Tuesday. While the managers received a cut of the profits, the prostitutes were not paid and received only tips, he added.
Investigators searched Mr. Saggio’s home in West Islip in June and seized $104,225 in cash hidden throughout the residence, according to the district attorney’s office, which said it also found correspondence between Mr. Saggio and Ms. Ciardullo discussing how many acts of prostitution the workers needed to perform each day to pay the “rents” imposed on them.
Mr. Trimigliozzi was also charged with official misconduct and with falsifying records by not disclosing his moonlighting for the prostitution business to the police department, the district attorney’s office said.
Prosecutors said a sex worker called Mr. Trimigliozzi while he was on duty on March 19, 2021, to tell him that police officers were being dispatched to the American Girls Spa after a customer was robbed and called 911.
Mr. Trimigliozzi left his assigned post in his marked patrol car, drove at nearly 90 miles per hour toward the brothel and later falsified paperwork to cover his unauthorized response to the robbery, prosecutors added. Mr. Tierney called the robbery the “turning point” of a three-year investigation that culminated in the indictments.
Mr. Trimigliozzi was suspended from the department without pay in August for conduct unrelated to his alleged role in the prostitution enterprise, according to the district attorney’s office.
According to the Islip school district’s website, Mr. Arey is a high school physical education and health teacher. He has been suspended with pay, the district attorney’s office said.
While the school district said it could not comment on personnel matters, a letter it sent on Tuesday to parents, faculty members and staff said that a teacher in the district had been criminally charged and “administratively reassigned to home before the school year began.” It added that the district attorney’s office had said that the charges did not involve any students or have any connection to the school district’s operations.
Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei on Wednesday ordered each defendant held on $50,000 bond. If convicted on the top count, each could face up to 25 years in prison. They are all due back in court on Dec. 9.
“These are just allegations, and we look forward to proving the case at trial,” Mr. Tierney said on Tuesday. “No one is above the law, and this indictment illustrates that.”
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