Tags Posts tagged with "Raymond Rodio III"

Raymond Rodio III

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Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini (D). File photo

A Sound Beach man who has already pleded guilty to sex trafficking, among several other charges, is set to spend the next decade behind bars.

The house on Lower Rocky Point Road in Sound Beach where Raymond Rodio III allegedly perpetrated acts of human trafficking. Photo by Kyle Barr

Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen handed down the verdict the morning of Tuesday, Sept. 29 to Raymond Rodio III, 49, of Sound Beach. The alleged perpetrator of the sex trafficking ring had already pleaded guilty Feb. 4 to several counts of sex trafficking, promoting prostitution and drug sales. The judge also sentenced him to five years of post-release supervision on the top indictment for trafficking. He is now a registered sex offender as well. 

“This defendant had a sex dungeon in his parents’ home and forced women into sex slavery,” District Attorney Tim Sini (D) said after the sentencing. “He pleaded guilty because the evidence was overwhelming thanks to the team who investigated and prosecuted this case, and today he met his fate. 

Suffolk County Police Department has previously said Rodio was identified through a traffic stop back in August, 2018. Police said they identified a suspected victim of human trafficking, and the departments Human Trafficking Investigations Unit found further evidence the victim had been forced into prostitution by Rodio in the spring of 2018.

Further investigation by police and DA’s office’s Human Trafficking Team revealed that Rodio had been conducting a human trafficking operation out of the basement of his parents’ residence, located on Lower Rocky Point Road in Sound Beach, since as early as 2014. The investigation identified more than 20 victims of Rodio’s sex trafficking operation.

The DA said Rodio would post advertisements on websites, including Backpage and Craigslist, promoting prostitution by the victims and would keep either a large percentage or all of the profits of their prostitution. Investigations also revealed he coerced victims into performing sex acts by getting them hooked on heroin and crack cocaine. Further investigations also determined he was involved in drug sales.

The investigation also revealed evidence that Rodio would occasionally keep victims in the basement for extended periods of time and force them to use a bucket as a toilet because the basement does not have a bathroom. The door to the basement has an exterior lock to which Rodio had the only key. In addition to the house, Rodio also forced the victims to perform prostitution at various motels throughout Suffolk County.

“Today he will be punished for the damage he caused to more than 20 victims,” Suffolk County Police Commissioner Geraldine Hart said in a release. “Bringing justice to these women is part of the important work of the department’s Human Trafficking Investigations Unit. I commend those investigators as well as the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Team for their dedication to combatting this issue and holding those who force women into prostitution for their own financial gain accountable for their actions.”

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The house where Raymond Rodio III allegedly committed acts of sex trafficking. Photo by Kyle Barr

A Sound Beach man who was arrested last year for sex trafficking pled guilty Feb. 4. He is set to be sentenced in March and faces what could be more than nine years in prison.

The Suffolk County district attorney announced Raymond Rodio III pled guilty to several counts of sex trafficking, selling drugs and several counts of promoting prostitution. 

Police and prosecutors said Rodio had been conducting a human trafficking operation in the basement apartment of his parent’s house located on Lower Rocky Point Road in Sound Beach, in which police said they identified more than 20 victims who had been moved through that house. Rodio engaged in drug sales, including heroin and crack cocaine, and used those drugs to keep better control of his victims, which he pimped out in motels around Long Island.

“This is an individual who clearly had no regard for the women he victimized, subjecting them to exploitation, fear and humiliation,” District Attorney Tim Sini (D) said after the defense’s guilty plea was read out. “It is our hope that this guilty plea delivers justice for the many survivors of Rodio’s scheme.”

Police also said Rodio would keep women in that basement for an extended period of time, forcing them to use a bucket as a toilet since there was no bathroom in the apartment. The Sound Beach man would post advertisements on websites, including Backpage and Craigslist, promoting prostitution by the victims and would keep either a large percentage or all of the profits of their prostitution.

Rodio’s attorney is listed as Scott Gross, a Garden City-based criminal defense attorney. Gross did not return calls for request for comment.

Police originally started investigating Rodio after a Suffolk County police officer noticed a suspected victim of trafficking in his car during a routine traffic stop in August 2018. The man was later arrested in March 2019 after an investigation found a score of other victims.

Rodio is scheduled to be sentenced by Acting Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice Mark Cohen March 9. The court promised the defendant a 9½-year with five years of postrelease supervision on the top count. He will also be required to register as a sex offender upon his release from prison.

The house on Lower Rocky Point Road in Sound Beach, a relatively quiet, two-lane road that parallels the North Shore coastline is somehow indicative of comfortable, suburban living. The house is quaint and the front yard is loaded with lawn ornaments. Now there’s something hauntingly disturbing at the sight of it.

On April 25, the Suffolk County district attorney announced a multicount indictment of a resident of that Sound Beach house, Raymond Rodio III, for allegedly keeping over 20 women in a cycle of drugs and prostitution over several years, often using that basement for activities related to that prostitution. The parents said they didn’t know. Comments from community members online were similarly flummoxed. Nobody expected a story like that to come from such a neighborhood.

Nobody ever does.

Everyone knows about the opioid epidemic. It’s said you don’t have to stick your arm out too far before you brush against someone who has been impacted by the crisis. For years it has ravaged Long Island, and only with concerted and multiyear efforts from community activists, journalists and policymakers are we finally starting to make efforts from the ground level up. Local legislators and school districts continually host Narcan training courses to aid overdose cases, and with the New York State budget, an expanded access to medication-assisted treatment has become available in both the hospital and jail settings.

Residents have commented online there are houses they suspect are involved in drug dealing, but why would anybody expect that this case also has allegedly been involved in human trafficking?

That’s just the thing — perhaps people need to be more alert to prevent these crimes.

Rodio was allegedly operating this illicit scheme for five years or maybe even longer. He got away with it for that long only until thankfully during an unrelated traffic stop an officer recognized that the woman passenger in Rodio’s car showed signs of being in a forced prostitution situation. 

Prostitution? On the North Shore? Yes, it does happen here, and it doesn’t just take place in seedy motels or in illicit massage parlor operations. It happens at reputable hotels, and online, through well-known websites like craigslist or on dating apps like Tinder. It’s likely that people as young as 15 years are involved. These sex traffickers often recruit online through social media or find young women with poor family lives or with existing drug problems.

It can happen anywhere. The case in Sound Beach more than proves it.

It’s time for parents and teachers to learn about this issue, one that has only grown with the opioid epidemic. Children need to learn the dangers beyond drugs, and adults should learn the warning signs to notice young women who might be involved in these truly horrific situations.

Many North Shore communities have continued to step up in the overwhelming face of the opioid crisis. We can take a stand against this issue as well.