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A Putnam County police officer was arrested Tuesday for allegedly providing protection to a Queens-based sex trafficking ring in exchange for sexual favors, prosecutors said.
Wayne Peiffer, a Village of Brewster police officer, was among six suspects indicted in Brooklyn federal court over the twisted scheme that trafficked young women and minor girls from Mexico into the US, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York.
Members of the organization, which has been operating since at least 2002, lured the women and girls across the border under the false pretense of a better life before forcing them into prostitution in various locations including Queens and the northern suburb of Brewster, prosecutors said.
For the past eight years, Peiffer is accused of shielding the organization from arrests, in part, by giving them advanced warning of law enforcement operations, according to prosecutors.
In return, Peiffer allegedly directed the ring to provide him with women so he could engage in sex acts with them — sometimes even at his police station, the US Attorney’s Office said.
The members of the Queens-based Cid-Hernandez Sex Trafficking Organization were identified as Luz Elvira Cardona, 33; Roberto Cesar Cid Dominguez, 54; Blanca Hernandez Morales, 51 and 32-year-old Jose Facundo Zarate Morales.
Cristian Noe Godinez, 42, is accused of running the the Godinez Prostitution Business.
The six defendants were hit with numerous charges including conspiracy to transport minors and the transportation of minors, sex trafficking and the promotion of prostitution.
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