An assistant principal at a Queens elementary school accused of acting as a California woman’s pimp appeared in federal court Tuesday, where he was released on a $150,000 bond co-signed by his sister.
Bond Ng, 47, is an assistant principal at P.S. 16 in Corona, according to a law enforcement source. He’s charged with enticing a person to travel via interstate commerce to engage in prostitution. Ng was arrested Sunday and has not yet entered a plea.
Ng’s criminal complaint describes him coordinating with fans of a Los Angeles woman who performs in online pornographic videos and offering sex with her for $2,000, with additional sex acts for an upcharge.
Text messages in the complaint allegedly show Ng confirming meetings he’d arranged for the woman, which specify clients’ paid-for acts, such as anal sex and sex without a condom, both of which cost an additional $500.
In an attempt to place Ng under house arrest, prosecutors on Tuesday said they are investigating whether Ng is part of a wider human trafficking scheme, citing a series of one- to three-day trips to Medellin and Cartagena in Colombia. Those are known human trafficking sites, Assistant U.S. Attorney Daniel Amzallag said in court — and it was after a short trip to Cartagena that Ng was arrested on Sunday.
Ng told Department of Homeland Security investigators at John F. Kennedy Airport that he was the woman’s “manager” and facilitated her client meetings in New York and elsewhere.
Amzallag suggested that Ng may have been “more coercive than we originally thought” and said the investigation is ongoing.
The California victim, identified as “Person-1” in the complaint, was inexperienced in prostitution in 2021 when Ng purportedly began coordinating her meetings with clients for sexual activity, the prosecutor said.
“It’s arguable that the defendant groomed her,” Amzallag said.
But defense attorney Michael Schneider of the Federal Defenders of New York pointed out that the charging documents don’t spell out a coercive arrangement. Schneider said that, in his 28 years of experience, he hasn’t seen this charge prosecuted in a case involving adults without coercion.
Over the objection of the government, Schneider ultimately secured Ng’s release on bond and succeeded in getting U.S. Magistrate Judge Vera Scanlon of the Eastern District of New York to nix release terms that would order him to stay away from minors, as all parties agreed that no minors are involved in the charges.
Ng may only travel within New York and must stay away from any person engaged in prostitution, either as a purveyor or customer.
Scanlon also told Ng he must report his arrest to his employer, the New York City Department of Education, by Wednesday.
Schneider quipped that the news of his arrest had already been broken by the press: “I think The New York Times did that,” he said.
The DOE did not comment on Ng’s arrest and referred amNY Law to “federal authorities.”
State Sen. Jessica Ramos, who represents District 13 in Queens, weighed in on Ng’s arrest and called for his removal.
“I am deeply disturbed by the serious allegations outlined in the federal complaint involving an assistant principal in our community. Our schools must be places of safety, trust, and integrity for our children and families. If he has not already been removed from the school, that step should be taken immediately,” Ramos wrote on X.
