Antonio Rivera

A Patchogue man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison for luring Central American women into the county and then into prostitution at two bars—fronts for his sex-trafficking ring.

Antonio Rivera, 38, was sentenced Wednesday by District Judge Sandra Feuerstein at Central Islip federal court along with his two accomplices, 33-year-old John Whaley of Bellport and 34-year-old Jason Villaman of Brentwood, who got 25 and 30 years behind bars, respectively.

“The defendants lured vulnerable young women to the United States with the promise of a better life,” said Loretta Lynch, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York. “Once here, the defendants then turned their American dream into a nightmare, subjecting them to unspeakable physical violence and emotional abuse.”

The trio had been convicted conspiracy, sex trafficking, forced labor, alien harboring and alien transportation after a four-week trial.

Prosecutors said the men recruited the victims—all of whom were undocumented immigrants from Honduras, Guatelmala, Mexico, and El Salvador—to work as waitresses in Rivera’s bars, Sonidos de la Frontera in Lake Ronkonkoma and La Hija del Mariachi in Farmingville.

After they were hired, Rivera forced the victims to engage in sex acts with the patrons in exchange for money, which he kept. The victims were beaten, raped, defrauded and threatened with deportation to keep them from calling police.

Whaley, who assisted Rivera in hiring waitresses, maintaining the bars and driving the victims around, raped one of the victims whom he was supposed to drive home.

Villaman acted as a security guard at the Lake Ronkonkoma bar and helped Rivera dump an unconscious victim on the lawn outside her home after the he and Rivera had assaulted her.

Several victims also testified that their wages were often taken from them after the trio told them the money would be saved for them, but the funds were not returned as promised.

Jonathan Elsalam

A Bellport High School teacher and assistant football coach has been accused of raping a girl younger than 17 years old—reportedly a student at the time who is now suing him.

Jonathan Elsalam, 27, pleaded not guilty Monday at Suffolk County court to charges of raping a girl younger than 17 while he was older than 21, criminal sexual act and endangering the welfare of a child, court records show.

“I’ve been waiting for somebody to tell me he’s been arrested for a long time,” the unidentified victim told the New York Post, which first reported the story.

The newspaper reported that the Ridge man’s arrest coincided with the victim’s filing of a federal lawsuit against the suspect and the South Country School District.

Elsalam was reportedly suspended and locked out of the building in October.

“This defendant violated a trust and stands accused of preying upon a teenage girl, one of his students,” District Attorney Thomas Spota said.

Bellport High School also made headlines in a grade-fixing scandal involving a star Clippers football player two years ago.

The case comes after an Eastport-South Manor High School substitute teacher was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old student last week, students allegedly caught a North Shore Middle School gym masturbating to pornographer in his office last month and a Wyandanch assistant principal was arrested for sexting students in March.

In addition, a Westhampton Beach teacher was accused of filming girls changing in the locker room and a Freeport Middle School principal was arrested of having sexual relations with a former student on the same day in March.

Judge Barbara Kahn set bail for Elsalam at $25,000 bond or $5,000 cash. He is due back in court May 29.

Detectives said 28-year-old Obadiah Johnson was attempting to sell heroin on the website, “backpage,” when detectives arranged to meet Johnson at a predetermined location on Sunnyside Boulevard in Plainview.

Police arrested Johnson when he arrived and recovered 20 bags of heroin and cash, police said.

Garden City police also assisted in the operation.

Johnson is charged with criminal sale of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a controlled substance. He will be arraigned Wednesday at First District Court in Hempstead.

Riverhead Town Police officers on patrol heard “rapid gunfire” near 3rd Street and stopped a Ford Taurus that was spotted leaving the area shortly before 9 p.m. while another set of officers responded to the house, where the homeowner said someone had shot at their residence. Several adults and children were in the house at the time, police said.

Empty shell casings were found at the scene. Officers arrested the four people in the vehicle after similar shell casings were also found in the car and one of the suspects riding in the vehicle was found to be in possession of a .380-caliber semi-automatic handgun, police said.

The suspects, 21-year-old Jeffrey Despeines of Centereach, 19-year-old Jasmine Parsons of Riverhead, Eric Baldwin Jr. of Bellport and Jordan Harrell of Medford, both 18, were each charged with reckless endangerment. Despeines and Baldwin were additionally charged with criminal possession of a weapon.

All four are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday at Riverhead Town Justice Court.

Officers spotted Mizzie Artis driving a Hyundai in North Bellmore while talking on a cell phone and not wearing a seatbelt but she fled when she noticed the officers saw her meet a man in a minivan on Armand Street at 6 p.m., police said.

The man fled and the officers stopped the 27-year-old woman after she drove away but failed to stop at a stop sign, police said.

The officers smelled marijuana and found two large cardboard boxes in the vehicle. K-9 officers responded and had a positive alert for narcotics in one box, police said.  Two additional boxes of marijuana were found in the trunk.

Artis was charged with criminal possession of marijuana and several traffic violations.  She will be arraigned Sunday at First District Court in Hempstead.