"Dorchester man charged with trafficking 3 Mass. teens" by Travis Andersen, Globe Staff January 17, 2015
A Dorchester man is facing charges that he took three teenage girls from Massachusetts to Rhode Island and held them against their will for prostitution, officials said on Friday.
Derek Miranda, 21, was arrested on Thursday night in Providence, where he allegedly confined the girls, two age 14 and one 15, for at least several hours, police said. No information was released on where in Massachusetts the girls were from.
Miranda is charged with kidnapping and sex trafficking and remained in custody in Providence on Friday, police said. He is scheduled to be arraigned early next week in Providence District Court. It was not known if he had retained a lawyer.
Providence police said in a statement that Miranda allegedly took the girls to Rhode Island to be used as prostitutes.
Officers received a report on Thursday night of a person with a gun on the third floor for a house on Cumerford Street and were also informed of “females being held against their will [at the address] by a male subject named Derek,” police said.
One of the 14-year-old girls had managed to escape, and police met her and the father of the 15-year-old outside the residence, according to police. The man told police that his daughter was still inside, and officers tried to gain access to the third-floor apartment.
“After several attempts with no response, police entered the apartment and ordered the occupants inside onto the floor,” police said. “Inside the apartment police located the 15-year-old girl and another 14-year-old girl.”
Two of the girls were turned over to their parents and one was placed in the custody of the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families, police said Friday.
It was not clear how long Miranda had allegedly held the girls. Major David Lapatin, a Providence police spokesman, said it did not appear that they were confined for a lengthy period of time. He said police met with US Homeland Security officials on Friday and the federal government may become involved in the case.
A spokesman for Peter F. Neronha, the US attorney for the district of Rhode Island, could not be reached for comment.
Police did not say how Miranda first came into contact with the girls, though Lapatin said that “either they were known to him, or they were known to friends of his. That’s what we believe.”
In addition, Miranda told police that one of his relatives owns the Cumerford Street home, but investigators have not been able to verify that assertion, Lapatin said.
“It’s not an epidemic, but it’s something that we’re extremely concerned about,” he said of interstate trafficking cases. “We always give them very special attention.”
Lisa Goldblatt Grace, director of My Life My Choice, a nonprofit in Boston that provides services to exploitation victims, said traffickers frequently move victims to different locations.
“They like to move girls, so that they’re isolated and don’t have supports around them,” she said, adding that the most frequent age of entry into the sex trade is between the ages of 13 and 15.
“Pimps use a variety of tactics,” she said. “They look for emotionally vulnerable girls; girls without a safety net.”
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Also see: Pimping You This Post
