Police shut down Marlboro prostitution operation

MARLBORO – The quiet of downtown Marlboro, with its hometown flavor that appears to have the hamlet standing still in time, has been shattered as police have cracked a prostitution operation.

Town of Marlborough Police, the State Police CNET unit and the Ulster County District Attorney’s Office have arrested Peter Persaud, 42, of Fishkill and a 22-year-old Yonkers woman in connection with “Body and Soul,” a business authorities say was peddling sex in the Village Square Mall on Route 9W.

Persaud, who police said owned the business, was charged with felony promoting prostitution in the third degree.

The woman, who police did not identify, was charged with a misdemeanor of prostitution. Other arrests are expected, police said.

The alleged acts took place in an upper level commercial suite at the little mall.

Police said the services were advertised as “body work” on Craig’s List and My Space as well as in the classified sections of area newspapers, allegedly offering the services of women for $175 per half hour.

Persaud was arraigned and remanded to the Ulster County Jail in lieu of $10,000 cash bail or $50,000 secured bond.

Charges of performing unlicensed massage therapy are expected to be filed with the state Education Department, police said.