BOSTON, May 24, 2017—One Boston man and eight others from outside the city were arraigned yesterday on charges they sought sex for a fee from Boston Police detectives in an online prostitution sting, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.
The defendants were arrested during an operation executed Tuesday evening by the Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit and district detectives. The operation resulted in the arrests of the following defendants were arraigned yesterday in Boston Municipal Court on a charge of sex for a fee:
- MURAT INAMLI (D.O.B. 10/3/66) of Brookline
- ZIAN JIANG (D.O.B. 11/10/96) of Boston
- WILLIAM J. MARCHANT (D.O.B. 12/28/62) of Norwood
- ESWIN ESTEBAN (D.O.B. 7/1/77) of Chelsea
- JAMES M. ROSE (D.O.B. 9/9/57) of Boston
- THOMAS HOLT (D.O.B. 6/27/75) of Belmont
- NIKUNK B. PATEL (D.O.B. 6/7/90) of Revere
- ARCHIE FOXWORTH (D.O.B. 4/10/49) of Hull
2018 UPDATE: A Boston Municipal Court judge granted the ninth defendant’s motion to seal records associated with his case and his name has been removed.
Each defendant was released on his own recognizance.
Also arrested Tuesday was a 51-year-old Shrewsbury man. At his attorney’s request and over the objection of prosecutors, Judge Thomas Horgan postponed this man’s arraignment until June 6.
Prosecutors allege that each of the defendants responded to an online advertisement posted by detectives assigned to the Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit and negotiated sexual conduct in exchange for money. The men were placed under arrest at the location where they had agreed to meet the undercover detectives.
“Human trafficking exists because sex buyers make it profitable,” Conley said. “Part of our strategy is making clear that there are personal, social, and legal consequences for that behavior. If you come into Suffolk County to buy sex, you aren’t just participating in an industry that thrives on exploitation – you’re risking arrest and prosecution.”
Under Massachusetts’ 2011 human trafficking legislation, offering to pay another person for sexual conduct is punishable by up to two and a half years in a house of correction and a fine of $1,000 to $5,000. Anyone with information on or concerns about human trafficking can call the Polaris Project’s national human trafficking resource center hotline at 888-373-7888 or send a text to “BeFree” (233733).
Each of the arraigned defendants return to court in July. The Shrewsbury man was ordered to return on June 6.
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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
