He forced me to be prostitute: Sex victim tells court

One of the victims of a Queens sex trafficking ring allegedly run by two brothers broke down in court Thursday recalling how she was threatened into prostituting herself.

The woman was trafficked from Mexico into the United States, where she was forced into prostitution by her boyfriend at the time, Jose Osvaldo Melendez-Rojas, according to federal prosecutors.

“He threatened me. He knew where my family lived. He could hurt me any way he wanted to,” the woman testified in Brooklyn Federal Court. “Any way you look at it, I had to agree. I was afraid for myself. I was afraid for my family.”

She was smuggled into the United States in 2010 and was forced to work as a prostitute until 2012, according to prosecutors.

Melendez-Rojas, 43, and his brother Rosalio Melendez-Rojas, 38, were arrested in Mexico in 2018 and charged with sex trafficking, alien smuggling and transportation of a minor for prostitution.

The brothers and three other co-defendants spent more than a decade, from 2006 to 2017, smuggling girls and women into the U.S. At least six victims ranging in age from 14 to their early 20s were trafficked by the brothers and ferried to clients in apartments in Flushing and Corona, prosecutors said.

“In forcing their victims into prostitution, the defendants employed a delivery service model, where drivers took the women and girls to clients all night long,” said federal prosecutor Gillian Kassner. “Each session lasted about 15 minutes and it cost about $30. During a six- to seven-hour shift, a girl would typically see between 15 and 20 men.”

Jose Osvaldo told the victim who testified Thursday that he was taking her to America to work in a market where his brother was employed, she said.

Instead, she was forced into long hours of sex work by the man with whom she shared a bed. She worked two shifts a day, one from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and another from 7 p.m. to 3 a.m., she testified.

When the exhausted woman was ready to get some sleep, Melendez-Rojas would sometimes force her to have sex with him, she testified.

“We had sex. It wasn’t always when I wanted to,” she said, adding that when Melendez-Rojas left the room at night, he would lock her in.

The brothers are on trial with three other men — Francisco Melendez-Perez, Abel Romero, and Fabian Reyes Rojas. All six defendants face sentences of up to life in prison if convicted on the sex trafficking charge.