An NYPD detective who pled guilty last month to attempted kidnapping of a teenage runaway he was accused of pimping out has been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison. A woman who claims to be his wife was also given the same sentence for her role in the alleged prostitution ring.
Wayne Taylor, 35, who was a 14-year member of the NYPD, and Zelika Brown, who helped run the sex ring, were sentenced on Monday in Queens Criminal Court, announced District Attorney Richard Brown. They were also given five years probation and must register as sex offenders.
The pair pled guilty to the lesser charge of attempted kidnapping last month, at which time Taylor was forced to resign from the NYPD. They were initially charged with kidnapping, promoting prostitution, assault and endangering the welfare of a child and had faced up to 25 years in prison when they reached the plea agreement.
“These sentences offer a measure of justice to the young victim in this case, a troubled 13-year-old who ran away from home and unfortunately came into contact with the defendant,” said District Attorney Brown. “Instead of acting as a police officer – as Taylor was at the time – he admittedly took advantage of the child, and, along with his co-defendant, forced her into prostitution.”
According to the charges, the girl ran away from her Brooklyn home earlier this year and met a woman named “Drama” who offered to get her into the business of dancing for money at parties. She was then allegedly sold to Taylor and Brown, who live in Jamaica, for $500.
Taylor told the girl to tell people she was 19-years-old if asked, and to charge $40 for oral sex and $80 for sexual intercourse. The defendants brought her to several parties around the city in January, including at the Holiday Inn and Howard Johnson hotels near JFK Airport, and made her perform sex acts with approximately 20 men, who paid the defendants.
At one point, Taylor slammed the victim’s head into the ground because she did not earn enough money, according to the DA. Taylor told her there was an alarm on the Vaswani Avenue home she was kept in and warned her not to try to escape. He also allegedly threatened to make her walk the streets to earn extra money if she was not able to pay off the $500 they paid for her.
The district attorney’s office noted that the plea agreement will spare the victim the trauma of a trial. “These sentences will keep the victim from having to testify in public about her hellish ordeal and will punish the defendants for their actions,” said Brown.
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