HEMPSTEAD MAN SENTENCED TO 10 YEARS FOR SEX TRAFFICKING

(SUFFOLK COUNTY, N.Y.) – Suffolk County District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney today announced William Wilkinson was sentenced to 10 years in prison on two counts of Sex Trafficking and one count of Bribing a Witness. 

“It is unacceptable that there are individuals who ruthlessly exploit others and traffic humans like this defendant did,” said Tierney. “Not only did this defendant provide drugs to his victims and terrorize them with fear, he exploited them to enrich himself. Now the only thing he’s earning is time behind bars. This sentence ensures that while this defendant will earn a significant sentence, he will be monitored for an additional 10 years after he is released.”

According to an investigation by the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office, the Suffolk County Police Department’s Human Trafficking Investigations Unit and the defendant’s own admissions, William Wilkinson, 30, ran a sex trafficking operation throughout Suffolk and Nassau Counties since as early as November 2019.

Wilkinson provided his victims with narcotics and subjected them to threats of violence and acts of physical violence to coerce them to perform prostitution. He also allegedly forced victims into prostitution in order to pay off purported debts he claimed the victims owed him for food, shelter, and narcotics.

He recruited victims in person as well as through social media and advertised prostitution services by his victims through various websites and scheduled the encounters throughout Long Island.

Wilkinson pleaded guilty on October 20, 2021 to two counts of Sex Trafficking and one count of Bribing a Witness after he violated an order of protection for contacting one of his victims and offering her money in exchange for her providing a false affidavit and absenting herself from the jurisdiction.

After serving 10 years in prison, Wilkinson will be placed on an additional 10 years post release supervision.  The defendant was also sentenced to two to four years on the bribery count, to run concurrent, before Suffolk County Supreme Court Justice John Collins.  He was represented by Sean Dixon.

This case was prosecuted by Assistant District Attorneys Veronica, McMahon, Elizabeth Moran, and Amanda Scheier of the Violent Criminal Enterprises Bureau.

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Criminal complaints and indictments are merely accusatory instruments.

Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty. No one is above the law.

William J. Lindsay County Complex • Building 77 • 725 Veterans Memorial Highway, Hauppauge, NY 11788

(631) 853-4169 | SuffolkCountyNY.gov/DA