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Man Allegedly Used His Parents’ Basement For Sex-Trafficking Drug Addicts

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Mary Margaret Olohan Social Issues Reporter
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A man allegedly brought women addicted to drugs into his parents’ basement and used coercion, money and drugs to force them into prostitution.

47-year-old Raymond Rodio III was arraigned Thursday, after being indicted in April for eight counts of sex trafficking and six counts of promoting prostitution. Rodio pleaded not guilty and is being held on $1 million bail, Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini told CNN. He could serve up to 25 years in prison if convicted.

Rodio allegedly preyed on women with addictions and promised them money and drugs if they would work with him. Once they agreed to do so, he allegedly lured them into his parents’ Long Island home and locked them inside the basement. The basement had no bathroom and the door was kept locked, so the women had to use a bucket if they needed to go to the bathroom, according to CNN. (RELATABLE: MS-13 Associate And Illegal Alien Pays To Have Sex With Trafficked 14-Year-Old Girl, Blackmails Her With Compromising Video)

Rodio allegedly advertised these women on Backpage and Craigslist and kept the majority of the money earned, according to authorities, and occasionally drove the women to appointments at hotels and used crack cocaine himself. His parents said he suffered from drug addiction but did not do anything else untoward.

“He wasn’t doing anything out of the basement — he was doing drugs,” Rodio’s father told CNN.

Authorities discovered one of the victims by looking for signs of distressed women with older men — particularly “the woman looks like she’s been through hell and back.”

“The average person — a healthy individual with a social network that isn’t addicted to drugs — is not likely to be targeted for human trafficking,” Sini told CNN. “It’s people who are down on their luck. And that’s what we saw here.”

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