Sex trafficking charges dismissed against Samantha Wimmer, defendant accused of helping sell women for sex
A misdemeanor prostitution count will be dismissed if Samantha Wimmer avoids rearrest for six months. Credit: Suffolk County Sheriff
Sex trafficking charges were dismissed Tuesday against a Long Island woman accused of helping a Bay Shore man sell women for sex after investigators determined she was also a victim, Suffolk County prosecutors said.
Samantha Wimmer, 39, of Central Islip, now faces only a single count of misdemeanor prostitution, a charge that will be dismissed if she avoids rearrest for six months, a Suffolk judge said.
"We all hope that you don’t come back again," state Supreme Court Justice Timothy Mazzei told Wimmer, who had been held at the Suffolk County Jail in Riverhead since her March 2024 arrest.
Prosecutors previously said Wimmer helped convicted sex trafficker Danny St. Louis, 45, arrange dates for two adult women out of Suffolk motels, including a victim she allegedly filmed for the purpose of advertising sex. St. Louis was also charged in the same indictment with raping a 13-year-old Patchogue girl whose 25-day disappearance a year later led to the arrest of a dozen men and women charged with an array of crimes, including kidnapping, rape and sex trafficking.
St. Louis was sentenced to 15 years in state prison last month after admitting to trafficking the adult women and raping the teen, whom prosecutors said he got addicted to crack cocaine.
Wimmer was charged in the same indictment with three counts of sex trafficking and promoting prostitution, all felonies related to the adult victims, and the prostitution charge she admitted to Tuesday.
Assistant District Attorney Zachary Kelly said investigators ultimately determined St. Louis used Wimmer's drug addiction to "manipulate her for his own benefit." Kelly said even if a jury were to convict Wimmer on the felony charges at a potential trial, she would have been entitled to significant sentencing relief under laws established for victims of domestic violence and trafficking.
"She herself is a victim," the prosecutor told Mazzei, calling Wimmer a "bottom," a term for a high-ranking victim tasked with enforcing a trafficker's rules.
Defense attorney Peter Mayer IV, of Hauppauge, said Tuesday's disposition reflects that his client "was more of a victim of Danny St. Louis than a co-defendant."
"She will no longer be held under the control of him in light of the fact that he has pled guilty and received 15 years as a sentence," Mayer said. "Samantha has the rest of her life to look forward to where she can work to become a contributing member of the community.”
Mazzei told Wimmer he hopes she can avoid using drugs and engaging in other criminal activity following her release from jail.
"Try to lead a normal life as best you can," the judge encouraged her.
A Newsday investigation into multiple disappearances involving the same Patchogue teen revealed Wimmer was present with St. Louis in a separate room at a Bay Shore motel when he brought the girl there in October 2023. Wimmer was arrested after allegedly offering sex for money to an undercover cop.
St. Louis and Wimmer are among 23 defendants in two states charged in a series of cases that connect to the same Patchogue girl, Newsday found. Charges remain pending against 13 of those individuals, including six men and women charged with kidnapping and trafficking her in December 2024.
Grant Parpan covers Suffolk County courts and federal courts for Newsday. A Long Island native, he joined Newsday in 2022.
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