Woman escapes Patchogue motel room where Bay Shore man held her captive for days, DA says

Torrey Brown, 35, was indicted on sex trafficking charges after the woman slipped out as he slept and asked motel staff to call police

She got out and saved herself the moment he closed his eyes.

For several days, the woman had been against her will held inside a room at the Shore Motor Inn in Patchogue, allegedly beaten, drugged and threatened with a knife by a man who told her she owed him a debt she could never seem to repay.

No matter how many degrading acts he forced on her and no matter how many strangers he sent into the room, he told her she still owed more.

When Torrey Brown, 35, of Bay Shore finally fell asleep on April 5, the woman didn’t run. She walked. Straight to the motel’s front desk, where she asked staff to call the police.

Police officers swarmed the motel — as hundreds of passersby witnessed on Sunrise Highway — and Brown was arrested at the scene.

On Friday, Brown, also known as “Smiley,” was arraigned on a Suffolk County grand jury indictment. He pleaded not guilty to one count of sex trafficking (force), four additional counts of sex trafficking and one count of third-degree attempted promoting prostitution.

The Suffolk District Attorney’s Office said the crime began March 30. Brown was staying at the Shore Motor Inn when he allegedly paid for a taxi to bring the woman to the motel.

Once she arrived, he gave her drugs, then told her she owed him money — and that the only way to pay it back was to have sex with other men for cash, prosecutors said.

She did and she paid him what he said she owed, authorities shared, but Brown told her she owed him more.

Each time she tried to leave, prosecutors said, Brown blocked the door. He punched her in the face, gave her drugs that caused her to overdose, and he pulled out a knife, authorities said.

And then, one morning, he fell asleep.

“This defendant allegedly used violence, drugs and threats to control a woman and force her to do sexual acts against her will,” Suffolk District Attorney Raymond Tierney said Friday. “Sex trafficking has no place in Suffolk County, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to bring traffickers to justice.”

Brown was is being held on $500,000 cash bail, $1 million bond or $5 million partially secured bond. He faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted on the top count and is due back in court July 31.

Editor’s note: The Shore Motor Inn is listed in some places as being in Blue Point.

Top: Shore Motor Inn in Patchogue (Google Maps Street View)