New York- A talent scout for a shady hip-hop modeling agency was arraigned yesterday for allegedly raping a 14-year-old girl he had lured to his Manhattan office with promises of fame.
Charles (Maurice) Green, 35, a married father of three from Brooklyn, was held on $20,000 bail. He was on probation for credit card theft when he was arrested Thursday, authorities said.
Green told his alleged victim that he could get her parts in hip-hop videos and movies through his two companies, Hip Hop Models Inc. and Urban Talent Network, authorities said.
Instead, when the girl and her parents visited his eighth-floor office at 255 W. 36th St., Green took her to another room and raped her – as her parents sat on the other side of the door, authorities said.
“The modeling scam is the way sexual predators try to get to the kids,” said Parry Aftab, a lawyer who works to protect children from predators through Wired Safety, a children’s advocacy group.
It’s not uncommon for unscrupulous modeling and talent agencies to bilk children and young women by getting them to fork over thousands of dollars for photos and modeling classes, with the promise of future jobs that never existed.
Sexual predators also have found modeling and talent scams rich hunting ground, Aftab said.
Green’s arrest is not his first brush with the law.
He allegedly stole another person’s identity to get credit cards and ran up $27,000 in charges. He was ordered to make restitution and placed on probation, authorities said.
