Teacher's Aide Faces Federal Charges
By: Tina Shively
Updated: August 7, 2012
More fall out tonight for the teacher's aide accused of prostituting a young girl.
26-year-old Marques Williams is facing Federal sex trafficking charges. Police say he advertised a 15-year-old girl as a prostitute online.
Williams was a one-on-one teaching aide at Monroe BOCES Number One, the victim was not one of his students.
U.S. Attorney William J. Hochul's office says Williams posted pictures of the 15-year-old girl on backpage dot com, an online collection of classified ads.
Hochul said "If the allegations are true, to have a man in his 20's target and then in fact convince a 15-year-old minor girl to engage in commercial sex activities is tragic to say the least."
The girl told FBI agents that between July and September of 2011, Williams reserved rooms for her at the East Avenue Inn on East Avenue and Alexander Street, and that she made up to a $1,000 a day, with as many as 15 customers a day.
The inn's current owner, John Billone Jr. of Flower City Management and Development, bought and began renovating the hotel just last month.
He issued a statement to News 8 saying quote:
"As this is an ongoing investigation, we will cooperate fully with all authorities to obtain any records prior to our ownership, or those records in the recent months after we took over."
Statements from the girl in an affadavit obtained by News 8 claim that Williams taught her all about prostitution, everything from what to charge to how to tell if you were dealing with police.
Williams also allegedly admitted to agents that he posted pictures of the girl on the internet, adding quote "I understand I was involved in something I should not have been."
Hochul says sex trafficking is a more common problem than many of us realize, and that parents always need to monitor what their child is doing on the world wide web.
"The vast majority of these young girls who are being lured or coerced into this terrible industry is that there was an internet connectivity in some way shape or form," Hochul added. "It might be a myspace connection with some idle banter followed by sending pictures and then ultimately a meeting."
If Williams is convicted on federal sex trafficking charges, he could face anywhere from ten years to life in prison.
He's due back in federal court on August 12.
