BOSTON, Oct. 1, 2013—Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley today delivered the following statement on the indictment of RYAN DUNTIN (D.O.B. 3/24/82), indicted by a statewide grand jury on human trafficking charges after an investigation by Attorney General Martha Coakley’s office. Duntin was previously convicted in Suffolk County in 2007, prior to the passage of Massachusetts’ human trafficking legislation.

“Six years ago, we secured Ryan Duntin’s guilty pleas on one count of inducing a minor into prostitution and three counts of deriving support from prostitution. Had the case gone to trial, we would have shown jurors that that he prostituted a 16-year-old girl on Craigslist and in the pages of the Boston Phoenix, taking the money for himself.  A critical witness in that case was another teen whom Duntin had also coerced into selling her body for his profit.

“After serving a three-year state prison sentence, Duntin was placed on five years of probation, which he allegedly violated in this most recent case.  It was because of these convictions that he was ordered to register as a sex offender, which he allegedly failed to do.

“Duntin’s prior case and this new one are reminders of why we fought so hard to bring a human trafficking statute to Massachusetts.  Commercial sexual exploitation is not a victimless crime.  It hurts real people, most of them girls and most of them young, poor, and disadvantaged.  I want to applaud Attorney General Coakley’s use of this statute in this case and her unwavering support for those whom this terrible crime exploits.”

–30–

All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.