Pimp sentenced to federal prison for sex trafficking

BALTIMORE — A Raleigh, North Carolina, man was sentenced Friday to 46 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release, for interstate transportation of women for prostitution. The sentencing follows an investigation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the Anne Arundel County Police.

Michael Darnell Boswell Jr., 31, must register as a sex offender in the place where he resides, where he is an employee and where he is a student, under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.

According to Boswell's plea agreement, from January through June 2013, Boswell recruited at least two young women who were struggling financially and transported them to Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina for prostitution. Boswell promised to help them earn more money through his entertainment business. In one case, Boswell first told a woman that he would set up dances and private parties for her. Only later did Boswell begin to set up commercial sex acts for the women. Boswell set up so called dates using online ads that advertised sex. Boswell arranged multiple sex acts per day and provided the women with drugs.

On June 20, 2013, Anne Arundel County police arrested Boswell and the two women near the Baltimore Washington International Airport after detectives saw Boswell drive the women from a hotel to local businesses around the airport. The arrest came after Boswell had arranged for a woman to have sex with an undercover detective and was seen driving the woman to a hotel. According to evidence presented to the court, in the year prior to his arrest, Boswell had been arrested twice for trafficking prostitutes. In total, Boswell has been arrested for sex trafficking four times in three states.

This case was investigated by the Maryland Human Trafficking Task Force, formed in 2007 to discover and rescue victims of human trafficking while identifying and prosecuting offenders. Members include federal, state and local law enforcement, as well as victim service providers and local community members.

Report suspected instances of human trafficking to HSI's tip line at 866-DHS-2ICE (1-866-347-2423) or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

The Henrico County Police Department in Virginia and the Raleigh Police Department in North Carolina assisted in the investigation.

Assistant U.S. Attorneys Justin S. Herring and Ayn B. Ducao prosecuted the case in the District of Maryland.