Teens at a Lower East Side high school were getting their sex education outside the classroom after being targeted by pimps who lured them to a nearby brothel and enticed them with cut-rate romps, law-enforcement sources said yesterday.
The brothel, at 39 Eldridge St., was recently shut down by NYPD vice cops following complaints from outraged parents who learned that their sons at Pace HS across the street were targeted by the sleazy operators, the sources said.
Police sources said that a pingpong hall was a front for the whorehouse in the back of the establishment, and that it was run by Benjie Zheng, 47, who lived a few blocks away, and Ming Liuchang, 48, of Queens.
The men would try to lure students to the Robo-Pong Training Center by distributing business cards outside the school, sources said. The cards were printed only with a contact number, an image of a topless woman – and a word, “Good.”
Zheng and Liuchang allegedly recruited immigrant women off the street to peddle flesh in hidden rooms at the center, whose hours were posted on a sign adorned with rulers and pencils and the words “School Days.”
The men were arrested in a Sept. 18 sting operation, along with two suspected prostitutes and Heng Yu Ye, 46, who owned the pingpong parlor.
The alleged cathouse was shuttered for good after the bust. Two undercover detectives paid cash after Zheng told them, “You can pick any of these girls for sex, and it will cost you $35,” according a criminal court complaint.
Investigators allege that over the past month, the owners drummed up business by hawking their services directly in front of the school, which has an entrance on Hester Street.
“It doesn’t surprise me. There are guys handing out cards with naked girls on them all the time around here,” said Ivy Lee, a senior at Pace HS.
Those who called the business-card number were given the address and upon arriving, allegedly paid fees ranging from $35 to $60 in exchange for a playing card that served as a chit for sexual services in secret back rooms.
The rates were apparently designed to attract students who might not have wanted to wait until prom night.
“It was obvious that they were targeting young students, because the prices were so low,” said one disgusted police official, adding, “Most brothels charge at least $100.”
Once the young johns made their way to the rooms, they were allegedly greeted by a choice of two prostitutes who took the card as payment for services rendered.
The women allegedly would return the cards to Zheng at the end of their shifts, receiving $15 for each one.
Calls to a representative for the Pace HS PTA were not immediately returned.
Investigators paid a return visit to the parlor twice last week with a warrant to see if the operators, released on bail, had reopened, but the premises remained shuttered.
Zheng and his workers are due back in court in January where they face prostitution charges, according to online records.
Additional reporting by Julia Dahl