FORMER COUNSELOR WITH CITY DEPARTMENT OF JUVENILE JUSTICE CONVICTED OF RUNNING A PROSTITUTION RING USING TEENAGE GIRLS

Bronx District Attorney Robert T. Johnson announced today that a former counselor with the New York City Department of Juvenile Justice has been convicted of using teenage girls in a prostitution ring.

35 year old Everton Duncan pled guilty to all charges in a five count indictment, four counts of Promoting Prostitution in the 3rd degree and one count of Endangering the Welfare of a Child.

Duncan, of 3690 Harper Avenue, the Bronx, had worked as an Associate Juvenile Counselor at the City’s Bridges and Horizon Juvenile Detention Centers. The Bridges facility was formerly known as Spofford.

State Supreme Court Justice Robert Seewald set sentencing for Tuesday, June 18, 2002 in Part T17. Promoting Prostitution in the 3rd degree is a Class "D" felony offense punishable by a maximum sentence of up to 7 years imprisonment. Endangering the Welfare of a Child is a Class A misdemeanor offense punishable by a maximum sentence of up to one year in jail.

Duncan entered a plea of guilty following the testimony of the People’s first witness, Detective Levi Taylor of the Department of Investigation. Taylor, acting undercover, negotiated a deal in which the defendant, in exchange for a $700 payment, agreed to provide six women to engage in sexual conduct at a bachelor party on March 9, 2001 in an apartment at 2245 Randall Avenue. Two of the women were actually 16 and 17 year old girls. The bachelor party was actually an undercover sting operation that was videotaped by investigators.

Duncan also pled guilty to promoting prostitution in connection with an incident on February 9, 2001 at AJ’s Bar at 3848 White Plains Road in which women engaged in oral sex with a client for money during a performance on stage at the bar. Undercover DOI investigators who had already started a probe of Duncan’s activities were in the bar that night and used the occasion to open negotiations with the defendant regarding the March 9th bachelor party.

The City’s Department of Investigation and the Inspector General for the Department of Juvenile Justice initiated the investigation after someone came forward with allegations that Duncan was involved in promoting prostitution.

Assistant District Attorney Stuart Levy of the Investigations Division’s Rackets Bureau is prosecuting the case.