Boston Man Pleads Guilty to Sex Trafficking

BOSTON – A Boston man pleaded guilty today in U.S. District Court in Boston to sex trafficking charges.

Akil J. DeCoteau, 28, pleaded guilty to one count of transportation of an individual with intent to engage in prostitution and one count of conspiracy to transport an individual for prostitution.  U.S. District Court Judge Denise J. Casper scheduled sentencing for Nov. 30 2016. 

In January 2014, DeCoteau met a woman at a friend’s apartment in Maine.  DeCoteau asked the woman to work for him as a prostitute and that, in exchange, he would take care of her and provide her with food and shelter.  The woman, who had no place to live at the time, agreed.  DeCoteau took the woman to a hotel in Westbrook, Maine, rented a room, and posted advertisement online offering sex with the woman for a fee.  DeCoteau charged men between $100 to $200 to have sex with the woman, and kept all of the money.

Over the course of two weeks, 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 that woman received in exchange for the sexual services.

Last week, DeCoteau’s co-defendant, Kwamaine Wells pleaded guilty to related charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 1, 2016.     

United States Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz; Matthew Etre, Special Agent in Charge of the 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.  The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Miranda Hooker and Leah Foley of Ortiz’s Civil Rights Enforcement Team.