Farmingville Man Convicted of Forcing Woman Into Sex Trafficking With Threats, Drugs

A Suffolk County jury convicted Mitchell Johnson, 38, of Farmingville, on four charges Monday stemming from his use of crack cocaine, physical confinement, and threats of violence to force a woman into prostitution at a motel, with sentencing now scheduled for April 29 in Riverhead.

The verdict was returned March 30 before Supreme Court Justice Timothy P. Mazzei. Johnson faces a maximum of 25 years in state prison.

The jury found him guilty of Sex Trafficking by Force, a Class B violent felony under New York law and the most serious of the four counts, along with two additional counts of Sex Trafficking, also Class B felonies, and one count of Promoting Prostitution in the Second Degree, a Class C felony. The Class B violent felony designation matters: under New York's Penal Law, it places sex trafficking by force in the same tier as robbery and assault, reflecting the legislature's judgment that coercion transforms commercial sex into a serious violent crime against the person.

According to trial evidence, the scheme began in March 2023 when Johnson contacted the victim online while posing as another woman. Once she arrived at the motel, he supplied her with crack cocaine to impair her judgment, then used her resulting addiction as a lever of control. He seized her identification, barred her from leaving the room alone, kept all money from commercial sex acts for himself, and threatened her and her family with physical violence if she refused to comply.

"Mitchell Johnson used drugs, violence, and coercion to trap a woman in a nightmare of sex trafficking for his own profit," District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said. "Because of this survivor's extraordinary courage, he now faces justice for the profound harm he inflicted."

The investigation was conducted by Detective Kathleen Aspromgos of the Suffolk County Police Department's Human Trafficking Investigations Unit. Assistant District Attorneys Katherine Flinchum and Sean Murphy of the DA's H.E.A.T. Unit, which consolidates prosecution of human trafficking alongside hate crimes and elder abuse cases, handled the trial.

The case illustrates a recruitment pattern Suffolk law enforcement has documented in other trafficking investigations: an initial online contact through a false identity, followed by motel-based confinement and drug dependency as tools of control. Motels, social service providers, and community members are increasingly being trained to recognize these indicators and report them.

Anyone who believes they or someone they know is being trafficked can reach the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888, available around the clock in more than 200 languages, or text 233733. The Suffolk County Crime Victims Center operates a 24-hour crisis line at (631) 332-9234. Victim services are also available directly through the Suffolk County District Attorney's Office.