Newburgh man pleads guilty to sex trafficking

NEWBURGH — Alexander Adams, 58, of Newburgh, pled guilty on June 24 before Orange County Judge Nicholas De Rosa in connection with a sex-trafficking operation he conducted in the Towns of New Windsor and Newburgh, according to Orange County District Attorney David M. Hoovler announced that

Adams pled guilty to sex trafficking, criminal possession of a controlled substance in the second degree, and criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree. When Adams is sentenced on Aug. 19, he is expected to receive agreed-on sentences of 5 to 15 years in prison for the sex-trafficking charge, with concurrent nine-year sentences on the controlled substance and weapon charges.

For nearly four years, between April 2009 and March 2013, Adams trolled the streets of Newburgh, recruiting at least ten women, who were often heroin-addicted, homeless, and hungry, into working for him as prostitutes in motels in New Windsor and Newburgh, according to Hoovler. Adams promised the women that he would put them in a clean motel room, bring them food and clothing, and provide them with the drugs that they needed to support their habits. In exchange, Adams made the women continue to act as prostitutes, turning over all their profits to him, never leaving their rooms, never refusing a potential customer, and ending all contact with friends and family. Adams essentially isolated the women in their rooms. Adams threatened the women with physical violence if they failed to adhere to his rules, including incidents where Adams would force women to undress and lie face down on a bed while he whipped them in the buttocks with a belt.

Over the course of months ending March 2013, an assistant district attorney happened to notice that Adams routinely posted bail for young women arrested for prostitution or for small quantities of drugs in Newburgh and New Windsor. That observation led to the investigation that resulted in Adams arrest.

Ten of Adams’s victims came forward to assist in the investigation. When Adams was arrested, police executed search warrants in two motels, in Adams’s home, in his storage unit, and in his three vehicles. As a result of those searches, Adams was found to be in possession of over $75,000 in cash, over four ounces of cocaine and heroin, smaller quantities of other narcotics, and numerous photographs of his victims in compromising poses, photos that Adams used to place Internet advertisements for their prostitution services.

Hoovler thanked the New Windsor Police Department, the Town of Newburgh Police Department, and the City of Newburgh Police Department for their investigation of the case, and also commended district’s attorney’s investigators.

“Human trafficking has become one of the most insidious forms of abuse in our society often resulting in the virtual enslavement of underprivileged women and children who are used for purposes of prostitution and other illegal acts," Hoovler said. "The disposition in this case, although it can never erase their victimization, provides some measure of justice to the women that the defendant violated.”