New York Teen Found on Boat a Month After Vanishing Was ‘Sex Trafficked,’ Dad Says

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The New York teen whose mysterious month-long disappearance and fortunate reunification with her family made headlines last week was possibly sex trafficked after getting picked up by a man she met online, her father said.

Emmarae Gervasi, a 14-year-old girl from the village of Patchogue on Long Island, was not seen or heard from by her father, Frank Gervasi, after she left their home, barefoot and without a jacket, on the evening of December 9, Breitbart News reported.

She reportedly walked out of her home and got into a black car, then was last spotted on security cameras knocking on doors at a local motel, according to Greater Long Island. 

After about four weeks of desperate searching and offering a $15,000 reward for her return, Frank miraculously found the teen on a boat docked in a marina in the nearby town of Islip after receiving a “crucial tip,” according to the New York Post and information shared by Frank on Facebook:

The nature of her disappearance and why she was on the boat were unclear, though Frank did admit that his daughter is a “troubled teen” in a video posted on Christmas Eve, before she was finally found on January 3. 

Frank has since come out and said Emmarae was being “held against her will” and “forced” to do inappropriate things on the boat in a video posted Sunday:

“Emma was being held against her will,” the dad said, arguing against social media comments that suggested that the teen had simply run away from home.

“She was not allowed to leave the boat unless she was escorted by somebody, and she was being forced to do things that a 14-year-old girl shouldn’t have to do,” he continued, before explaining how she was first picked up by a man she met online, but later ended up with a “random” 65-year-old man she did not know.

“So I do believe this is sex-trafficking, and it’s being looked into,” he said.

Frank added that Emmarae is “in a facility right now getting the help she needs and is safe.”

According to the dad, the tip he received about his daughter being on a boat was from a woman who “was afraid to go in the boat” — so he drove to the marina near White Cap Fish Market and got on the boat himself, finding the teen alone. 

He added that he believes that “some dangerous people” were keeping her there, and maybe had a lookout nearby to keep tabs on her. 

Shortly after the dad posted the video revealing his belief that Emmarae was sex trafficked, Suffolk County police said they made an arrest, but did not give any details, according to the New York Post.