A veteran cop and longtime teacher in Suffolk County are two of four people to have been arrested and charged with running brothels and managing sex workers on Long Island.
Years of investigation resulted in the indictment of Suffolk County Police Officer George Trimiliozzi, 55, who has spent 18 years on the force, and Steven Arey, 53, a teacher for 26 years, the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said.
Additionally, Frank Saggio, 60, and his girlfriend, Dana Ciardullo, are accused of enterprise corruption and promoting prostitution, among other crimes.
From October 2019 to June 2024, Saggio led a group that “profited from the systematic promotion of prostitution at two locations in Suffolk County,” according to the DA’s office.
On Tuesday, law enforcement officials described the operation as a “shocking betrayal of public trust.”
The four arrested are accused of collecting “house fees” from sex workers and advertising their services. Trimigliozzi and Arey specifically are accused of working as managers at a building in Holbrook known as the American Girls Spa “Suite 3” and two additional alleged brothels known as “Suite 4” and Reiki for Healing “Suite 5.”
The investigation reportedly found a customer was alleged to have been robbed at American Girls Spa in March 2021. Officials say Trimigliozi got a call from a sex worker to warn him that the customer had called 911 and that the police were on their way, since he was on duty at the time. The indictment alleges that he then abandoned his assigned post in the Third Precinct and drove to the brothel at almost 90 mph in his marked police car.
Trimigliozi is also accused of then falsifying police paperwork that did not mention his unauthorized visit to American Girls Spa. He is charged with 18 separate counts, including counts of promoting prostitution.
Arey faces 28 separate counts, while Ciardullo is charged with 18 counts.
Saggio is charged with two counts of sex trafficking, along with being accused of making sex workers, some of whom authorities said could not read or speak English, sign leases requiring them to pay him $6,000 to $12,000 a month. He is also charged with 51 counts of promoting prostitution.
Each of the four could face eight to 25 years if convicted. Saggio faces up to 25 years if convicted on the most serious charges and is held on a $500,00 bond.
“It is a sad day in law enforcement when a public servant is arrested,” District Attorney Raymond A. Tierney said in a statement. “The allegations in this indictment describe a long-term pattern of organized criminal activity.”
