BOSTON - Don Kai Chen, 43, Quincy, has pleaded guilty to engaging in a conspiracy to transport women in interstate travel for the purpose of prostitution.

At the plea hearing, Don Kai Chen admitted that from August of 2004 through February of 2010, he conspired with defendant Hong Wei, a/k/a “Ms. Chen, to transport women to Mass. from out of state for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. The conspiracy involved the use of advertising in various newspapers in N.Y., Calif., Mass. 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 N.Y. and elsewhere around the country, and were thereafter transported to various apartments throughout Mass. where they then engaged in prostitution. Some of the women were not legally in the U.S. when they were harbored in the brothels. Some of the women were forced to work in the brothels.

As alleged in the Indictment, from August of 2004 through February of 2010, defendants Hong Wei, a/k/a “Ms. Chen,” 37, of Flushing, N.Y.; Jing Liang Chen, a/k/a “Mike,” 30, of Quincy, Mass.; Xiang Hua Zhang, a/k/a “Darren,” 27, of Flushing, N.Y.; Yu En Jin, a/k/a “Eric,” 26, of Quincy, Mass.; and Don Kai Chen, engaged in a conspiracy to entice Asian women to travel to Mass. for the purpose of engaging in prostitution. The Indictment charges defendants Wei and Jing Liang Chen with sex trafficking and harboring illegal aliens and using force, fraud and coercion to cause the women to engage in a commercial sex act which the defendants benefitted from financially. All of the defendants are charged with engaging in a conspiracy to coerce and entice women to travel to Mass. for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.

Judge George A. O’Toole, Jr. scheduled sentencing for February 2, 2012. The defendant faces up to five years in prison to be followed by three years of supervised release on the conspiracy charge.

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

 

 

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