A violent migrant pimp was convicted of forcing a Long Island sex worker into sleazy hotel rendezvouses by beating her up and plying her with crack and heroin.
Barbados citizen Michael Howell, 65, advertised the unidentified woman’s services online from April 2023 through February 2024 and then pocketed all the cash from the meetups in Suffolk and Nassau counties, authorities said.
“Michael Howell preyed upon his victim by using crack, heroin and violence to maintain control over her in order to profit from her exploitation,” Suffolk District Attorney Ray Tierney said after the pimp was found guilty Tuesday in Suffolk County Supreme Court.
Howell, who lived in Brooklyn, would become violent when the woman resisted — and he once slammed her head into a wall, prosecutors said.
The pimp was arrested on Feb. 1, 2024 with fentanyl and a large amount of cocaine on him.
He is due back in court for sentencing on Sept. 26 and is facing 25 years behind bars and eventual deportation.
Federal immigration officials have already lodged a detainer to deport him back to Barbados after his release.
Suffolk officials have been grappling with what they have described as one of the worst human trafficking crises in the country.
“We are in the top 20th percentile for human trafficking in the nation,” Deputy County Executive Sylvia Diaz said in February.
“This is a distinction that no county would want to have.”
County Executive Ed Romaine has since rolled out “Operation Safe & Last Return,” aimed at breaking down barriers between agencies to improve coordination and better track missing people before they’re lured into exploitation by traffickers.
Howell will remain held in custody until his sentencing next month.
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