Hurbert Dupigny, of Brooklyn, was sentenced on Thursday, June 24, after being found guilty in a jury trial last year, said Audrey Strauss, U.S. States Attorney for the Southern District of New York.
“Dupigny victimized and violently abused, some of the most vulnerable members of our society for his own financial gain," Strauss said. "His predatory conduct irreparably damaged the lives of his victims."
From at least August 2016 to May 2017, Dupigny, aka, the Fox, engaged in a conspiracy to commit sex trafficking of minors, including several who are known to have stayed at Hawthorne Cedar Knolls in Mount Pleasant, according to court documents.
He has also been accused of recruiting two minors -- one of whom spent time at Cedar Knolls -- to engage in commercial sex acts while living in foster care facilities or homes in New York City, the U.S. States Attorney's Office said.
Dupigny, 38, took photographs of the minors in lewd positions, used Backpage.com to post advertisements of them for commercial sex, and then directed them to meet customers to engage in commercial sex out of an abandoned home in Brooklyn.
The girls saw as many as 10 to 15 customers each day. The defendant took all of the proceeds from their commercial sex acts, forcing them to be reliant on him for food and clothing.
Cedar Knolls closed in 2018, was a facility for troubled youths, run by the Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services. The facility had long battled youth leaving the facility, which led to girls being recruited from the center.
In addition to today’s prison sentence, Dupigny was sentenced to 10 years of supervised release.
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