Police/Fire
Three Men Indicted for Running Prostitution Ring in Mass. and Virginia, Including Watertown
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The following announcement came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts:
Three individuals previously arrested and charged in November 2023 in connection with operating sophisticated high-end brothels in greater Boston and eastern Virginia have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Boston, Mass.
The following individuals have each been indicted on one count of conspiracy to persuade, induce, entice, and coerce one or more individuals to travel in interstate or foreign commerce to engage in prostitution; and one count of money laundering conspiracy:
Han Lee, a/k/a “Hana,” 41, of Cambridge, Mass.;
James Lee, 68, of Torrance, Calif.; and
Junmyung Lee, 30, of Dedham, Mass. According to the charging documents, from at least July 2020, the defendants operated an interstate prostitution network with multiple brothels in Cambridge and Watertown, Mass., as well as in Fairfax and Tysons, Va. It is alleged that the defendants collectively established the infrastructure for brothels in multiple states which they used to persuade, induce and entice women – primarily Asian women – to travel to Massachusetts and Virginia to engage in prostitution.
Specifically, the defendants allegedly rented high-end apartment complexes as brothel locations, which they furnished and regularly maintained. It is further alleged that the defendants coordinated the women’s airline travel and transportation and permitted women to stay overnight in the brothel locations so they did not have to find lodging elsewhere, therefore enticing women to participate in their prostitution network. According to court documents, the defendants established house rules for the women during their stays in a given city to protect and maintain the secrecy of the business and ensure that the women did not draw attention to the prostitution work inside apartment buildings.
The defendants allegedly advertised their prostitution network primarily on two websites – bostontopten10.com and browneyesgirlsva.blog – which offered appointments with women in either greater Boston or eastern Virginia, respectively.
