A Brooklyn man pled guilty earlier this month to five counts of sex trafficking and conspiracy to distribute drugs.
Diheim Young, 32, is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 7 for trafficking five women, four of whom were Vermont residents, from Rutland to New York City and distributing crack cocaine and heroin in Rutland from 2012 to 2015, according to the press release.
Young got the women addicted to drugs so that they would be dependent on him, the U.S. Attorney’s office reported. Once he could use their addictions to control them, Young would have them sell drugs around Rutland, transport him to drug buyers in Rutland and transport him to New York where he would pick up the supply of drugs.
With some women, Young would take their cellphones and identifying documents as a means of cutting them off from the world and controlling them, according to the press release.
Often when the women were taken to New York City with him he would make them prostitute themselves either at a place referred to as the “track” along the streets of a Bronx neighborhood or by posting advertisements of themselves on Backpage, a website that promotes prostitution, according to the press release.
One of Young’s siblings allowed his Brooklyn apartment to be used to house the women. In the apartment, Young would take pictures of the women for their listings on Backpage to attract potential sex buyers, according to the press release.
Young would hold the women in the apartment and assaulted them physically and sexually if they refused to do whatever commercial sex act he wanted. Even out of the apartment, if the woman refused to do what Young asked or attempted to escape, he either hit them or withhold drugs from them causing withdrawal symptoms, according to the press release.
Young took their proceeds from prostitution and threatened the woman that if they didn’t keep bringing him money he would cause them even more harm, according to the press release.
Young is represented by Elizabeth Quinn, assistant federal public defender. He could be sentenced to life imprisonment for his sex trafficking crimes, as well as a maximum of five years supervised release, a $5,000 fine and mandatory restitution for the victims, according to the press release.
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