Prostitution sting nets 7 arrests

A team of detectives trolled the website Craigslist for ads listing erotic services, and on Wednesday arrested five women and two men on prostitution-related charges, before a posting alerted other Craigslist users about the sting. "They would have kept going all night," said Sergeant Christopher Werner of the West Bridgewater Police Department. All seven pleaded not guilty in Brockton District Court, Werner said.

manchester, n.h.

A 10-year-old boy jumped from a bridge into the Merrimack River near the city yesterday and drowned, according to Manchester police. The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department was handling the recovery effort last night but could provide no details.

Worcester

Prosecutors presented a Worcester grand jury with the case of four relatives who allegedly posed online as an 18-year-old woman, in order to lure men and rob them. Each suspect is now facing additional charges of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon and larceny in a building. An Orange man and his three Gardner cousins allegedly used the social networking site MySpace.com to create a fictional persona, and in May robbed a man during a meeting at Dunn State Park. Prosecutors said they also stole from a client's house. In May, police arrested Bryan H. Bowers, 19, and his cousins Lawrence M. Lafrennie, 24, Thomas M. Lafrennie, 19, and Amanda M. Lafrennie, 18, and charged them with armed robbery, burglary, and two counts each of conspiracy. They are scheduled to be arraigned Aug. 20.

Arlington

Police in Arizona yesterday charged a man in the brutal robbery of an Arlington man whose arms were tied so tightly that part of one arm had to be amputated, a Phoenix Police Department spokesman said. Erik "Loc" Vargas, 22, was being held at the Maricopa County Jail near Phoenix, where he was in custody on charges of an unrelated aggravated assault charge from Aug. 3, Sergeant Joel Tranter of the Phoenix police said yesterday. Bruce Northrup, a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity, had been walking to his hotel room in Phoenix on July 28 when a robber followed him to his room, police said. The next day a maid found Northrup, but gangrene had set in in his left hand. Northrup is undergoing treatment at Lahey Clinic in Burlington.

Brockton

Police arrested 20-year-old Brockton man yesterday in the slaying of a young man whose body was found near a bus parking lot just before midnight Saturday. Laurence Harris is scheduled to be arraigned today in Brockton District Court on charges of murder and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, said Bridget Norton Middleton, an assistant Plymouth district attorney. Police found the body of a man, believed to be 20 years old, near the lot on Commercial Street. The victim, whose identity has not been released, had been stabbed multiple times. The homicide was the city's ninth this year, Middleton said.

Salisbury

A Newburyport man was in serious condition at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center yesterday after a crash Saturday evening on Interstate 95. Stephen M. Boy, 19, was headed north on I-95 approaching Route 286 about 7:30 when he lost control of his 2005 Honda Civic and careered into woods, said State Police Sergeant Robert Bosquet. Boy was not wearing a seat belt.