A Queens man beat two teenage girls and forced them to work as prostitutes in the basement of his home, prosecutors said Thursday in announcing his arrest.
Dayshawn Preston, 20, is accused of repeatedly threatening and beating a 19-year-old girl and forcing her into prostitution during the past seven months at his home in the Jamaica neighborhood, according to the charges.
He also forced a younger teen into prostitution during the same period and beat her if she failed to produce enough revenue, investigators say.
Preston was charged Wednesday night with first-degree kidnapping, first-degree rape, sex trafficking, promoting prostitution, assault and menacing, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. He is being held in lieu of $750,000 bail.
There was no indication Preston had retained a lawyer who could comment on the charges.
Preston refused to allow the 19-year-old girl to leave the basement for weeks at a time, the charges state. He seized the girl's social security card and birth certificate and told her that she was "his property."
In January, Preston raped the teen and hit her in the face with a handgun, leaving a scar along her nose, the charges state.
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The teen managed to grab Preston's mobile phone on Tuesday and made a 911 call for help as she fled from the house. Preston caught up with her wrestled the phone away as he grabbed her hair and knocked her to the ground, according to investigators.
The last sound from the recorded 911 call is a woman's high-pitched scream.
