"Dorchester man admits in court he was a pimp" by Mina Corpuz Globe Correspondent February 25, 2016
A Dorchester man who pleaded guilty to collecting money from two women he forced into prostitution was sentenced to serve up to five years in state prison, Suffolk District Attorney Daniel F. Conley’s office said.
Rashun Hendren, 24, was sentenced on Feb. 17, the day before his trial in Suffolk Superior Court was scheduled to begin, prosecutors said.
Suffolk prosecutors would have presented evidence that Hendren recruited the victims and forced them to sleep with men who responded to advertisements he placed online, and that he kept the women compliant by using violence and drugs.
Hendren kept the money for himself, prosecutors said.
“This is the ugly reality that lies behind ads on the web sites that serve as platforms for prostitution,’’ Conley said in a statement. “It’s a reality of violence and addiction, and it’s not victimless crime.”
Both women fled from Hendren and one told Boston police about the abuse, leading to Hendren’s arrest, prosecutors said. One of the women died of a drug overdose before Hendren’s trial began.
Hendren was initially indicted for human trafficking, prosecutors said, but his plea to profiting from prostitution was accepted, prosecutors said.
