Apartments in Newton, Watertown, Wellesley, and Somerville were used as brothels in an interstate prostitution ring in which five individuals from Massachusetts and New York were arrested, the US Justice Department said yesterday.
Dong Kai Chen, 41, Yu En Jin, 26, and Jing Liang Chen, 30, all of Quincy, along with Xiang Hua Zhang, 27, and Hong Wei, 37, both of Flushing, N.Y., were each charged with one count of conspiracy to transport and entice women to travel for the purpose of prostitution.
The were additionally charged with one count of inducing travel to engage in prostitution, one count of sex trafficking by force or coercion, and two counts of forced labor, harboring or concealing aliens, and seven counts of interstate travel in aid of racketeering.
Women were lured by advertisements in newspapers across the country asking for Asian women to work as prostitutes, according to law enforcement authorities.
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The women usually arrived at South Station and then were transported to various apartments across Massachusetts, where they worked as prostitutes, the authorities said.
In some cases, the women were in the United States illegally.
Related:
"Women from the former Soviet Union and China are still being trafficked across the border with Egypt into Israel for forced prostitution by organized criminal groups"
Who is bringing them in?
“Human trafficking is a widespread crime that exists in both urban and suburban communities, as today’s arrests demonstrate,’’ Bruce Foucart, special agent in charge for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a statement.
Don Kai Chen’s arraignment is set for April 12. Jing Liang Chen is expected to be arraigned on April 12. Arraignment has not been set for the other suspects.
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