A Middlesex County man was sentenced on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, to 311 years in prison for persuading, inducing, and enticing women to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution.
Jose Torres, 46, formerly of Elizabeth, was previously convicted of all four counts of a second superseding indictment following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti, who imposed the sentence yesterday in Newark federal court.
According to U.S. Attorney Philip R. Sellinger, documents filed in this case and the evidence at trial, Torres persuaded, induced and enticed female victims, often commercial sex workers, to travel from out of state locations, including Canada and New York, to engage in prostitution from May 2015 to October 2019.
The FBI, in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security, described Torres as a sexual predator who hired sex workers and physically raped, assaulted, terrorized, and cheated them.
In each instance, Torres trolled prostitution websites and targeted out-of-state sex workers.
He lured them to New Jersey with promises of large sums of payment.
Once the women were in New Jersey, Torres refused to pay them. When the victims asked for payment, Torres became aggressive, often assaulting and raping them.
According to an FBI complaint, Torres met the escorts through websites such as EROS, Erotic Monkey, Tryst and Backpage, they said.
Torres travelled frequently throughout the years and is suspected to have committed these crimes throughout the country, in New Jersey, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, and California.
Torres had been preying on sex workers for over 10 years before his capture and is believed to have numerous victims.
Torres was originally charged in February 2020 with two counts of coercing and enticing and on May 29, 2020, he was indicted on a third count involving another victim. On July 31, 2020, a federal grand jury handed down a superseding indictment with four counts of coercion and enticement.
Torres was convicted October 11, 2023, of all four counts of the second superseding indictment following a six-day trial before U.S. District Judge Brian R. Martinotti in Newark federal court.
The FBI said Torres would locate his victims by utilizing various sex worker websites, including EROS, Erotic Monkey, Tryst, Backpage, etc. From there, he would entice them to meet by offering large sums of money and groom his victims towards engaging in sex trafficking activities at his direction or command.
Most of his meetings would require the sex worker to travel, many times at their own expense, to come to New Jersey from other parts of the country and Canada, the FBI said.
Torres picked up most of the women at Newark Airport after they paid their own way, then he drove them either to his home or to a motel.
One woman was promised $20,000 to $30,000 a month to fly to the United States from Canada at least twice a month to be Torres’s private escort, but she, like others, never got paid.
Torres picked up the Canadian woman at the airport in October 2019 and took her to an East Brunswick hotel.
When she asked for payment, Torres told her that he was a police officer, then “forced her to engage in rough sexual intercourse, which included slapping her in the face, choking her and calling her derogatory names.”
Torres convinced another woman to take a cab from New York City before he picked her up, drove her to his house and pretended to transfer money to her on his laptop. After having sex, the woman “became uncomfortable due to Torres’s aggressive behavior and asked to leave.”
He refused, then slapped, choked and raped the woman, who complied out of fear for her life, it says. The next morning, she took a cab back to the city.
The FBI captured Torres after finding four of his victims.
“During the investigation, law enforcement learned that Torres has victimized other commercial sex workers in a similar fashion,” the FBI said. “Law enforcement recently intercepted a victim in a different district.”
Torres lured two others victims – one from New York City, the other from Pennsylvania – with “promises of large sums of payment.”
He threatened the New York City woman, “telling her it was in her best interest to remain in the hotel room,” and then “forced her to engage in unwanted sexual activity, including having sexual intercourse without a condom,” the complaint said.
In addition to the prison term, Judge Martinotti sentenced Torres to 15 years of supervised release and imposed a $5,000 special assessment for trafficking.
Sellinger credited special agents of the FBI, under the direction of Special Agent in Charge James E. Dennehy in Newark, and special agents of Homeland Security Investigations Newark, under the direction of Acting Special Agent in Charge William S. Walker, with the investigation leading to the sentencing.