Sleazy Times Square perv, 35, preys on wayward teens for sex and drug-selling, feds accuse in explosive docs
In a sign the bad old days are back in Times Square, a sleazy Svengali sexually exploited two teen girls he met on the Great White Way, plied them with drugs and booze, and made them sell drugs on the streets of the city, authorities said.
Shymell “Shy” Ephron, 35, allegedly supplied the girls, 15 and 17, with ecstasy, marijuana and alcohol; gave them a cellphone to monitor their whereabouts, and had sex them every night in his Harlem apartment for a week in May, Manhattan federal prosecutors said in court papers.
FBI agents and NYPD cops “rescued” the girls from Ephron’s clutches, and now want to know if others have been similarly abused, according to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
ecstasy, marijuana and alcohol and had sex them in his Harlem apartment,
authorities said. US Attorney's office
“There may be more victims of this alleged conduct,” the feds said.
“This is 100% reminiscent of the ’70s, ’80s, and early ’90s pre-Giuliani Times Square of pimps and prostitution,” fumed retired NYPD Lt. John Macari.
“It’s all making its way back to the bad old days,” he said, pointing the finger at woke politicians whose criminal justice reforms have emboldened bad guys.
The case comes as the Crossroads of the World has been rocked by high-profile crimes, including the brutal mugging of a tourist outside a four-star hotel in May and a tourist shot in the leg at a store in February by a young shoplifter who then opened fire at a cop. In late May, a man was stabbed in both legs by three men believed to be wielding a machete outside a Times Square McDonald’s.
Authorities would not detail the victims’ hometowns or background, and would not comment on the scope of Ephron’s operation.
Ephron was arrested on July 10 and pleaded not guilty two days later to a seven-count indictment, including two counts of coercion and enticement of a minor, each of which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum potential sentence of life behind bars, court records show.
He was denied bail on the grounds he was a flight risk.
Ephron has 15 arrests dating back to 2009, ranging from robbery to assault to drug possession with intent to sell, law enforcement sources said. In a March 31 “domestic” robbery incident, he allegedly stole an item from a woman’s residence because she wouldn’t have sex with him, the sources said. He was arrested in connection with that incident in Midtown on April 24.
“The NYPD needs to beef up patrol and undercovers in the area. Criminals need to feel uncomfortable with uniform presence and the potential for their arrest,” said retired NYPD detective and John Jay College adjunct professor Michael Alcazar, a former undercover who worked Times Square from 1999 to 2006.
Alcazar said “increased foot traffic, the migrant crisis, effects of the defund-the-police movement and the central location of Times Square” are the recipe for “a resurgence of drug and prostitution problems.
“It’s target rich for pervs preying on wayward teens,” he added.
“This office is committed to keeping New York City safe from sexual predators,” US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement.
The FBI’s toll-free Tip Line can be reached at 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or https://tips.fbi.gov.
