Metro

Man convicted of sex trafficking says crime was ‘victimless’

A sex trafficker convicted of forcing a prostitute to have sex with multiple johns, until she jumped from a sixth-floor window to escape, claimed on Thursday that what he did was a “victimless crime” — before a Manhattan judge slapped him with a 9-to-18-year jail stretch.

Ex-Marine Johnny Jackson, 54, copped to sex trafficking for the horrific rape-kidnapping in a plea deal last July.

“My view of things is that prostitution is a victimless crime,” he told Justice Bonnie Wittner, claiming he’d only meant to “help people​.​”

“People willingly came over to do what they did. Any harm I caused anybody or duress I’d like to apologize for that.”

The judge slammed Jackson for the callous statement. “Don’t tell me this is a victimless crime,” she said sternly. “You enabled this crime to happen. You provided the apartment. You made a bad choice when you didn’t help her.”

She added, “You begged for this plea – it’s a very serious crime.”

​Still, defense lawyer Arnold Keith told the judge that Jackson was remorseful. “Mr. Jackson wants this court to know that what happened on those days is an aberration from his behavior and he regrets his involvement.”

Only a few weeks earlier, a Manhattan jury convicted his pal Benjamin Gaston, 37, of kidnapping the victim for two days when she showed up for an escort job at West 92nd Street and Columbus Avenue and forcing her to prostitute herself for his profit.

Gaston took the terrified woman’s cellphone, money and identification, telling her, “You’re not leaving the apartment – you’re working for me and making me money.”

On the second day, he took her to another apartment at West 149th Street where there were at least six men waiting to have sex with her.

She tried to escape by climbing out of the apartment’s sixth-floor window — attempting to use her jacket as a rope, but instead falling to the ground, breaking both of her legs and her back, according to the complaint.

Jackson told cops that his only involvement was in lending his apartment out so Gaston could bring “a girl” over for prostitution. “She was OK with it,” he insisted, according to court papers. “She didn’t want to leave.”

Gaston faces a minimum of 15 years behind bars on the top count when he’s sentenced August 26.