Indictment: Massapequa couple ran international call girl ring
Vincent and Melissa Lombardo were arrested at their Massapequa home and are scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in federal district court in Brooklyn on money laundering and prostitution charges, authorities said. (July 18, 2013) Credit: Howard Schnapp
A federal grand jury has indicted the Massapequa couple who prosecutors say took in at least $1 million in the past two years by running an international call-girl ring via the Internet from their home.
Vincent Lombardo, 44, and his wife, Melissa Lombardo, 43, of 3 Franklin Place, were indicted on 28 money-laundering-related charges and Vincent Lombardo was indicted on a charge of unlawful possession of a firearm. Prosecutors said Lombardo, who was previously convicted of a felony and, therefore, barred from owning firearms, unlawfully possessed an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle and ammunition.
They are accused of running a high-class call-girl business, Aphrodite Companions, out of Massapequa and Boca Raton, Fla., and depositing the money generated from transactions into bank accounts. The ring is alleged to have provided prostitutes across the United States, as well as in Europe, South Africa, Israel and other parts of the Middle East, prosecutors said in a criminal complaint.
The indictment charges the couple used a debit card to buy furniture and to make transactions with backpage.com, a popular venue for advertising the services of sex workers.
The indictment also said that prosecutors intend to seek the forfeiture, upon conviction, of the couple's assets, including real estate property, money and firearms.
Their attorney, Robert J. Del Col of Smithtown, could not be reached for comment, but he has flatly denied their involvement in prostitution.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
Updated now Newsday travel writer Scott Vogel took the ferry over to Block Island for a weekend of fun.
