3 Charged In Probe Of East Brunswick Prostitution Allegedly Involving 17-Year-Old Girl

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- Two Bronx residents and an East Brunswick, New Jersey rabbi have been arrested in New Jersey in the alleged trafficking a 17-year-old Pennsylvania girl for prostitution.

Middlesex County Prosecutor Andrew C. Carey and East Brunswick police Chief James Conroy announced Sunday that Gabriella Colon, 18, and Richard Ortiz, 23, of the Bronx have been charged with 11 counts.

The counts against the Bronx residents include human trafficking, conspiracy to commit human trafficking, promoting prostitution of a child, conspiracy to promote prostitution of a child, endangering the welfare of a child, criminal restraint, and several child pornography offenses – including the manufacturing, distribution and possession of child pornography, prosecutors said.

They were arrested at a motel in Fort Lee on Friday, prosecutors said. Both were being held at the Middlesex County Adult Corrections Center in North Brunswick pending a detention hearing.

Also arrested was East Brunswick rabbi Aryeh Goodman, 35, who is charged with one count of engaging in prostitution with a child and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, prosecutors said.

Goodman runs a religious learning center, out of his home in East Brunswick and may have affiliation with another on Lexington Avenue in East Brunswick Township, authorities said. He surrendered to authorities at the East Brunswick Police Department alongside his attorney on Feb. 6, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors allege that Colon and Ortiz sold the sexual services of the 17-year-old girl from Lancaster, Pennsylvania to about 30 men from Jan. 1 to Feb. 2 at an East Brunswick hotel. Prosecutors alleged the rabbi engaged in sexual relations with the girl at a hotel in East Brunswick.

The investigation continued late Sunday. Anyone with information was asked to contact Detective Chris Farrace or Detective Dan Unkel of the East Brunswick Police Department at (732) 390-6900, or Detective Mark Morris of the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office at (732) 745-4194.