NJ sex trade victims, some as young as 13, exploited by hundreds of men a week

🚨 NJ authorities break up human trafficking rings in different parts of the state

🚨 One utilized teens, and the other tricked victims with a "dancing" job

🚨 Authorities announce 7 indictments

Officials say home-based brothel and a violent sex operation involving teen victims were dismantled in sting operations targeting human trafficking rings on both ends of the state.

Authorities on Tuesday announced indictments against seven New Jersey residents charged in sex and drug crimes in Essex and Cumberland counties.

"2025 is just a few weeks away, and yet we live in a world where some of us look at fellow human beings simply as property," said Attorney General Matthew Platkin.

Cumberland County ring

According to authorities, a human trafficking operation based in Bridgeton was engaged in illegal drug activity.

The four defendants recruited women on the false pretense that they would be working as dancers, officials said. Instead, they were brought to a "house of prostitution" on North Laurel Street in Bridgeton where they were offered for commercial sex.

According to authorities, the operation recruited new groups of victims every week, from Paterson and Queens. Officials say the victims were forced to sell their bodies to hundreds of men a week.

The defendants, all from Bridgeton:

⚫ Usiel Luna, 42

⚫ Jose Perez-Lopez, 40

⚫ Rosendo Vazquez-Hernandez, 35

⚫ Yerson Puentes-Marquez, 28

According to authorities, the brothel was also selling drugs.

Authorities seized methamphetamine, cocaine, marijuana, and more than $50,000 cash from the brothel and Luna's home, officials said.

Victims were told by Luna that they were not allowed to leave the home.

Essex County ring

Teenage victims were controlled with violence as Essex County-based traffickers arranged for them to be sexually assaulted by strangers, according to the Attorney General's Office.

Two Newark residents, including a female, were indicted on Monday after an investigation revealed that two 15-year-olds and a 13-year-old had been used for sex trafficking.

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"In this case, the defendants allegedly arranged for the victims to engage in sex acts using smartphone apps and posting online ads, including nude photos of the minors," Platkin said. "The children victims ... were then allegedly taken to short-term rentals and hotels to engage in sex acts."

The defendants in this case:

⚫ Khailah Meekins, 21

⚫ Donte Barkley, 28

⚫ Richard Johnson, 24, of Irvington

Johnson was indicted in August on first-degree aggravated sexual assault charge claiming he paid to have sex with one of the teens.

According to officials, Meekins used physical violence, including beatings with an electrical cord, to control her victims. The teens were also subject to biting, hair pulling, punching, and stomping, officials said.

“We are committed to relentlessly pursuing justice for those who have been affected by these crimes,” said Stephen Ferketic, director of the Division of Criminal Justice. “Law enforcement agencies across our state are committed to doing all that we can to investigate and vigorously prosecute human traffickers.”

New Jersey's confidential hotline is 855-END-NJ-HT, for anyone who's been victimized by this type of exploitation or who has seen someone who they suspect is being victimized.

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