10/22/2012
By Ivan Pereira
Cops busted a major prostitution ring that they say used several Manhattan apartments as secret sex nests.
The Manhattan district attorney’s office arraigned Monday the alleged ringleader behind the organization, William Thomas, 42, of Fort Greene, on a promoting prostitution charge.
Thomas allegedly created and maintained two websites that advertised kinky sex meetings with Asian women and charged as much as $200 per half-hour for anyone who signed up for the services.
The alleged prostitutes are pictured on the site in sexual poses wearing various role play outfits, including maids and schoolgirls.
Undercover detectives say Thomas had been operating the sites since Sept. 2011 and brought clients, many of whom were wealthy men who worked on Wall Street, to several locations.
One of the alleged romp rooms at 238 East 50th St. was big enough to have “multiple beds” and was “occupied by five women” according to one of the detectives who posed as a client. Other locations included a floor at One Maiden Lane, an apartments in buildings near West 36th Street and East 58th Street, the criminal complaint said.
One of the undercover officers had met with Thomas, who has four children, according to DNAinfo, on Oct. 11 and he allegedly gave the cop he locations where to meet the prostitutes as well as pricing officers for the sex acts.
Thomas was released on $35,000 bail and is set to return to court on Dec. 13, the DA’s office said. Two women were also arrested and charged for allegedly assisting Thomas in his operation.
This is the second alleged prostitution ring bust that the NYPD conducted this year. Anna Gristina pleaded guilty last month to running an Upper East Side brothel out of an East 74th Street apartment.
