Private jet CEO, 57, 'always brought little girls back to his Bronx apartment' and 'would hang out at a McDonald's near a high school to pick up kids', neighbors say as he is charged with child sex trafficking
Neighbors of the CEO of a private jet company who was arrested this week for allegedly sex trafficking minors say they knew he was a pedophile and he was constantly seen bringing young girls into his Bronx apartment.
Paul Alexander, 57, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly sex trafficking children throughout New York City, the New York Attorney General's Office announced following a months-long investigation.
Alexander, who lists himself as CEO of a private aircraft charter company Central Jet Charter, is already a registered sex offender.
In the investigation dubbed 'Operation Mile High' Alexander allegedly charged an undercover cop $300 for sex with a 12-year-old girl and a 14-year-old girl. He allegedly told the undercover officer to give the kids alcohol and marijuana to make the victims more cooperative.
The probe involved undercover agents, covert recording devices and social media.
Dan Santiago, 26, a neighbor of Alexander’s apartment in Fordham Heights, said he saw groups of young girls coming in and out of his home.
'I would always see him with little girls up there,' Santiago said to the New York Post.
Alexander, who lists himself as CEO of a private aircraft charter company Central Jet Charter, was arrested on Thursday for allegedly sex trafficking children throughout New York City and was charged on Saturday. Pictured above on his LinkedIn page
'It was never one person coming out of the apartment, it was always like a group. I found that suspicious. He was doing something up there for sure,' he added.
Another neighbor who lives below Alexander said his apartment was always noisy and she suspected he was messing around with underage girls and once warned him to stay away from her daughters.
'He has never messed with me or with my daughters. He would make so much noise. I took a bat and went upstairs and told him, "Come here, if you ever touch one of my daughters … I will kill you right here in this building,"' the woman said in Spanish.
He allegedly replied to her, 'No, no. It wasn’t like that.'
'They need to take him away from here…Children live here and I have to take care of my daughters,' the woman said.
'He would bring a lot of little girls here — Black, Hispanic, Chinese — he brings women of all types and walks of life, and a lot of girls,' the woman added to the New York Daily News.
A woman who answered the door of Alexander’s apartment claiming to be his roommate said she didn’t see anything suspicious because she was never home.
Other neighbors said he would hang around a school in Fordham Heights looking for young kids.
'He stays by the McDonald’s, [on Fordham Road] where he finds them. That’s where he would pick up those kids,' a neighbor who lived on the first floor of his apartment said.
'There is a high school around there, he would go there and be waiting on them,' the neighbor added.
Neighbors said they’d see young girls in skimpy clothing who they believed were under the age of 18.
'I would always see him with little girls up there,' Dan Santiago, 26, a neighbor of Alexander’s apartment in Fordham Heights, said on Alexander. Another neighbor said: 'He would bring a lot of little girls here — Black, Hispanic, Chinese — he brings women of all types and walks of life, and a lot of girls'
'There is nothing more reprehensible than sexually exploiting a child,' New York City Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement posted to Facebook Saturday
'They had on little sports bras, little shorts. I’m so glad he’s gone. He has like a creepy vibe, like he’s a villain,' one female neighbor said.
Alexander's apartment door is covered with stickers depicting princesses and phrases like 'Kiss me' and 'All you need is love' as well as religious Bible verses saying, 'With god everything is possible.'
The probe was first launched in March after he was reported to the NYPD by a female minor, according to a statement from the AG's office.
The girl alleged that Alexander sexually abused her and other underage girls, and promoted them for prostitution to other men.
Alexander was arraigned in Bronx County Criminal Court on Saturday and charged with sex trafficking of a child, attempted sex trafficking of a child, related counts of first and second degrees of promoting prostitution, and two counts of endangering the welfare of a child.
He faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted on the top charges.
Alexander was first placed on the New York sex offender registry 20 years ago
He has two previous convictions that placed him on the registry: first-degree sexual abuse in 1996 along with a separate conviction for possessing child pornography in 2003
James said that Alexander is a Level 3 Sex Offender. He has been registered on the New York State Sex Offender Registry website for 20 years.
He has prior convictions for first-degree sexual abuse along with a separate conviction for possessing child pornography, according to Heavy.
His record on the New York sex offenders' registry reveals that in 1990, he was found guilty of sexual abuse after overpowering and choking his female victim. He was convicted in 1996 and received a state prison sentence of 2-4 years.
And in 2003, he was convicted for 'possessing an obscene sexual performance by a child less than 16 years old'. The victim was described as a 'non-stranger'.
He received 18 months and 3 years behind bars but was released on parole by December 2004.
Alexander will return to court on December 8.
There were no further details released on Alexander's potential number of victims or for how long he had run the operation.
James Alexander, pictured in a previous mug shot, faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted on the top charges
However, the investigative team did determine that he was trafficking children across county lines.
Alexander's arrest marks the first time that the city's AG Letitia James has charged a defendant with the newly enacted crime of Sex Trafficking of a Child.
The new crime was introduced to strengthen prosecutors' ability to hold sex traffickers accountable, James' office said
'There is nothing more reprehensible than sexually exploiting a child,' James said in a statement.
'This individual's alleged actions jeopardized the health and safety of our children and highlighted the critical need for these new protections that strengthen our ability to hold perpetrators accountable for these gross violations of the law.
'I thank the NYPD for their partnership in this investigation, and I will continue to use all the tools at my office's disposal to hold accountable those who seek to abuse our children,' she added.
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