A New York man has been accused of running a prostitution ring involving as many as 22 women over the course of four years from the basement of his apparently unassuming parents' home.

What are the details?

Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini says 47-year-old Raymond Rodio III started the operation in 2014. The suspect is accused of plying women with heroine and crack cocaine, holding them in the basement against their will, and pimping them out to clients.

"This is a dangerous and depraved individual," Sini told reporters Thursday, according to WABC-TV. "He kept women locked up in the basement of his parents' house. He used the basement of his parents' home as a dungeon. He preyed on women using their vulnerabilities and their drug dependencies to maintain his control over them."

Rodio allegedly drugged the women to impair their judgment and made them have sex with men in the basement and various hotel rooms. He is also accused of keeping the cash the women received from johns and instead providing the women with more drugs to feed their habits.

Prosecutors say the basement does not have a bathroom, so the women were forced to use a bucket instead of a toilet.

Rodio's father told WABC he had no idea his son was running a prostitution ring, but, "I knew something was going on. Drugs, that I know. I've tried to get him into so many drug programs."

The suspect's parents have not been charged with any crimes.

A neighbor reported seeing one particular car parked in the street some distance from the home on occasion, and noted "a girl would get out and walk down the block rather than parking at the house, which I though was kind of strange."



Anything else?

The Associated Press reported that Rodio pleaded not guilty to several charges, including sex trafficking and promoting prostitution. The alleged pimp remains in jail on a $2 million bond.

Investigators believe Rodio was feeding his own crack habit with the proceeds from his operation.