Quincy Man Sentenced On Charges Related To Prositution

BOSTON – A Quincy man was sentenced yesterday on charges related to a prostitution ring.

Jin Liang Chen, a/k/a Mike, 33, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge George A. O’Toole to 28 months in prison, followed by five years of supervised release. In November 2011, Chen pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transport women to travel for the purpose of prostitution, forced labor, and harboring aliens.

From August 2004 through February 2010, Chen, along with Hong Wei, a/k/a Ms. Chen, 37, previously of New York; Xiang Hua Zhang, a/k/a Darren, 27, of New York; Yu En Jin, a/k/a Eric, 26, of Quincy; and Don Kai Chen, 41, of Quincy, engaged in a conspiracy to entice Asian women to travel to Massachusetts to engage in prostitution. The conspiracy involved the use of advertising in various newspapers in New York, California, Massachusetts, and elsewhere, seeking the services of Asian women to work in the defendants’ brothels. The women generally arrived at South Street Bus Station in Boston from New York and elsewhere around the country and were transported by the defendants to various apartments throughout Massachusetts where they then engaged in prostitution. Some of the women were not legally in the United States when they were harbored in the brothels. Some of the women were forced to work in the brothels.

Last month, Hong Wei was sentenced to five years in prison. In November 2011, Zhang was sentenced to 21 months in prison. Jin is pending trial. In March 2012, Don Kai Chen was sentenced to 15 months in prison.

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Bruce M. Foucart, Special Agent in Charge of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; William P. Offord, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations in Boston; Boston Police Commissioner Edward Davis; Chief Paul Keenan of the Quincy Police Department; Sheriff Thomas M. Hodgson of the Bristol County Sheriff’s Office; and Chief Michael Kent of the Burlington Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Laura J. Kaplan and Timothy Moran in the Organized Crime Strike Force Unit.