Two Men Sentenced for Sex Trafficking

BOSTON – A Brockton man and a Boston man were sentenced in U.S. District Court in Boston for sex trafficking.

Kwamaine J. Wells, 27, of Brockton, was sentenced today by U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper to 135 months in prison and five years of supervised release.  Akil J. DeCoteau, 28, of Boston, was sentenced yesterday by Judge Casper to 18 months in prison and five years of supervised release.  In September 2016, Wells and DeCoteau pleaded guilty to conspiracy and transportation of an individual with intent to engage in prostitution.

Between April 2013 and February 2014, Wells transported four women between Maine, Massachusetts and New York with the intent that they engage in prostitution, and used force and threats to coerce two of the women to work around the clock as prostitutes for him.  Wells sought out women who were specifically vulnerable, due to either estrangement from family or drug addiction, and recruited them to work as prostitutes for his sole financial benefit by promising them a lavish lifestyle or access to drugs.  Wells rented hotel rooms and posted advertisements online offering sex with the women for a fee.  Wells charged men between $100 and $200 to have sex with the women, and kept all of the money.  Wells also withheld drugs from the women if they did not earn enough money from prostitution.

Wells also conspired with DeCoteau to transport women between Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York with the intent that they engage in prostitution.  In January 2014, DeCoteau recruited a woman he knew to be addicted to drugs to work for him as a prostitute, offering her food, shelter and drugs in exchange.  Over a two-week period, DeCoteau prostituted the woman in hotels in Maine, Massachusetts and New York.  In each location, DeCoteau posted advertisements online offering sex with the woman for a fee, and then kept the money she received.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Boston Field Division, made the announcement today.  Assistant U.S. Attorneys Miranda Hooker and Leah Foley of Ortiz’s Civil Rights Enforcement Team prosecuted the case.