A Sound Beach man is accused of running a human trafficking ring out of the basement of his parents' home.

Suffolk County District Attorney Tim Sini says 47-year-old Raymond Rodio III used the basement as a brothel, forcing 22 women into prostitution over the past five years and providing them with heroin and crack-cocaine.

Sini says Rodio had been recruiting women through advertisements on Craigslist and Backpage from 2014 until February 2019 and forced the women who responded into prostitution. Sini says the basement room had a lock on the outside, and the women were forced to have sex with men Rodio brought there. There was no shower or bathroom there, and Sini says the women "were forced to use a bucket as a toilet."

Most of the victims, according to authorities, were women in their 20s. If they refused prostitution dates, Sini says the women would be intimidated and threatened by Rodio, including threats of violence and withholding drugs.

Rodio's parents live upstairs in the home at 116 Lower Rocky Point Road. His father told News 12 that he had no idea anything was happening. But minutes later, he agreed to show reporters the basement room in which he says he son stayed alone.

The father says he knew his son sold and used drugs but was not involved in sex trafficking.

Sini says they learned of the alleged ring when a police officer made a routine traffic stop last summer in Farmingdale and suspected a woman in the passenger seat was a sex trafficking victim.

Rodio pleaded not guilty and was held on $1 million cash bail.