‘Sweet Leroy’ sent to
prison for 30 months
PHILIPSBURG--Dutch Quarter brothel owner Leroy Richardson (48) has been sentenced to 36 months behind bars, six of which were suspended, with three years’ probation.
“Sweet Leroy,” as he is also called, was convicted Tuesday of having held hostage three women who were employed at his adult entertainment centre, and of human smuggling and ill-treatment.
He was acquitted of the charge that he had raped several women employed in his establishment.
Prosecutor Jan-Bart Develing had requested the court during the April 16 court hearing to sentence Richardson to seven years.
The owner of Players Club had denied all allegations, stating that he had never had any problems with these girls. His lawyer Ralph Richardson had pleaded for his client’s full acquittal. He had argued that the women had filed complaints against his client out of revenge because the club had gone bankrupt and they were facing the possibility of having to leave St. Maarten without money.
Richardson has been in detention since December 21 after three women fled the establishment and reported to the police station that they had been held against their will and that the brothel owner had forced them to have unprotected sex with him.
The girls told the police that they were under Richardson’s power because they lived under the continuous threat of being sent back to their home country, the Dominican Republic, without payment of their salaries. They told the police they had to pay back the US $1,500 cost of their airplane tickets and work permits.
They said they were not allowed to leave the building without permission of the owner or the supervisor, and could only leave the premises under surveillance.
Judge Rob Goossens stated in his verdict that he found it proven that the freedom of movement of several women had been “seriously infringed.”
The Court considered it further proven that Richardson had arranged work permits for his female employees and had charged them for the cost of these, and for food and lodging. The women were to pay him back by working at the club before they could earn money for themselves.
“They were depending on the suspect, not just because they owed him a lot of money on their arrival, … but also because their work permits expired after three months and the continuation of their stay was in suspect’s hands,” Judge Goossens stated in the verdict.
The Court also found Richardson guilty of having mistreated one of the women after she had refused to dance in the nude.
