A 43-year-old Quincy man, who has admitted being an errand runner for an Asian prostitution ring operating in Boston and its nearby suburbs, was sentenced this week to 15 months in prison.
Dong Kai Chen is one of five defendants charged in a scheme that lured Asian women from New York and California, among other places, to come to Massachusetts and work as prostitutes in Boston and suburbs including Stoneham, Wellesley, Malden, Burlington, and Newton.
Prosecutors said some of the women who were in the US illegally were threatened with legal exposure or physical abuse if they did not work in the brothels.
During sentencing on Thursday, US District Court Judge George O’Toole declined Dong Kai Chen’s request to spare him prison time based on his consistent work record in the Asian food market business in Boston, as well as his lack of a criminal record....
In a phone interview Friday, Chen’s attorney, Robert Peabody, characterized him as a bit player in this prostitution business. He said Chen was a single man, a cash-strapped factory worker who responded to an ad in a Chinese-language newspaper, distributed in Boston, for “a driver.’’ Peabody said Chen discovered only later that the job was related to an illicit escort business.
“He did not know what he was getting into at first,’’ Peabody said. “He needed the cash.’’
Federal prosecutors portrayed Chen as the one who picked up women arriving at South Station or Logan Airport, deposited large amounts of cash at banks, and delivered bed linens, towels, food, and condoms to prostitutes at various locations. Chen, who immigrated here from Guangdong province, became a US citizen a few years ago, Peabody said.
Prosecutors say the leaders of the brothel operation are the alleged “madam’’ Hong Wei and two men, Jing Liang Chen, and Darren Liu, also known as Xiang Hua Zhang....
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