Targeted, some drug dealers switch to prostitution

Authorities fear surge in human trafficking

A federal crackdown on drug dealers has succeeded in taking some of Boston's most dangerous offenders off the streets, but it is also driving some dealers and gang leaders to pursue another line of criminal work: prostitution.

Law enforcement officials and victim advocates say girls as young as 14 have become a prized commodity for criminals who would rather exploit them than run the risk of serving a long federal sentence for dealing drugs.

"The girl has become the new drug," said Kelley O'Connell, a sergeant detective who runs the Boston Police Department's human trafficking unit, which has been working with the drug unit to track dealers who may have turned to prostitution.

The trend is in part a consequence of the comparative ease of sexual exploitation in the digital age. Pimps can advertise girls and women online - a way both to increase demand and avoid street arrests. But the department's more aggressive use of tough federal drug laws to target gangs and so-called impact players - those police believe to be involved in shootings - has also sent a message that criminals should consider another path, according to police officials and some community leaders.

Some teenagers have recoiled from crime entirely, deciding to stick with school and seek legitimate jobs rather than deal drugs, community organizers say. Others have turned to theft.

But the greatest impact has been on hu man trafficking.

Most of the city's fledgling pimps are men in their late 20s and early 30s who served time in prison for drugs, have recently been released, and have settled on a new source of illicit income, said Deputy Superintendent Paul Fitzgerald, head of the drug unit.

"They know we're looking hard at drug dealing," he said. "They're taking the path of least resistance when they go toward the girls."

In recent years, the department has been working more aggressively with the FBI to target dealers, who are often gang members responsible for much of the city's gun violence. During one 2006 sweep, Boston police and the FBI arrested 23 men - half of whom were alleged gang members - for dealing cocaine near the Bromley-Heath housing development in Jamaica Plain. Last year the department and federal officials announced three stings in which more than 50 men were arrested for drug and gun charges. Some of the drug arrests have led to sentences of 15 years in out-of-state federal prisons; if prosecuted under state law, they would have faced five to 10 years in a state prison. So criminals have adapted.

Tracking the change through statistics is difficult, police officials say, because law enforcement is focusing less on arresting prostitutes than on tracking down the people who appear to be exploiting them.

But police have seen the trend in the arrests of people like James Williams, 26, who was caught by Boston police and the FBI, who were investigating him in Miami in 2006 for luring a 16-year-old girl there and forcing her into prostitution. Williams, who was sentenced to more than seven years in federal prison, had been arrested for drug-dealing in Boston three years earlier.

The trend can also be detected in the reports police are getting from their informants and the stories of prostitutes approaching victim advocates for help. Cherie Jimenez, coordinator of Kim's Project in Brighton, an organization that helps former prostitutes, said the number of women who have come through her door has more than doubled since 2006 to 40. Police are conducting several ongoing investigations that they believe could soon lead to more arrests.

Police still monitor busy strips like Blue Hill Avenue in Mattapan, where some women sell their services, usually to help feed a drug addiction. But law enforcement's focus has turned to pimps who run more organized operations and recruit girls and young women from online social networks and in places that teens frequent, such as bus stops, shopping centers, and outside urban schools.

O'Connell and her staff are reviewing the arrests and criminal backgrounds of dealers, looking for other charges in their recent history, including domestic violence calls, which might be clues that they are also exploiting women.

In the last year, school police officers have begun visiting the homes of girls who could be at risk of being drawn into prostitution. In June, the trafficking unit finished training all of the department's patrol officers to look for warning signs: expensive jewelry or excessive makeup on particularly young girls; truancy and long absences from home; and bruises, which could be the result of an abusive pimp.

Fitzgerald said the drug trade still keeps his unit busy. Last year, officers obtained 288 search warrants for reputed drug houses, about the same number of searches they conducted in prior years.

But the threat of a federal sentence has caused many dealers to take the business inside. Now dealers are more likely to conduct transactions using cellphones and will arrange meeting places with clients, rather than deal more openly on the streets.

The money is harder to come by, and the work less appealing, especially for new teenage recruits.

"What's different is that except for a few key people, kids are not making the kind of money they used to," said Emmett Folgert, head of the Dorchester Youth Collaborative. "Entry-level jobs are actually competing with what many of these kids were making on the streets. More of these kids are going back to school. They don't have the pull of the big money. In general there's been a change, and we're thankful."

One drug dealer, a sleepy-eyed 18-year-old from Dorchester who said he peddles marijuana laced with crack and heroin, said he is tired of dealing and constantly being worried that he will be stopped by police or robbed by other dealers.

"I'd rather have a job," he said, looking younger than 18 in his oversized gray sweat shirt and black pants.

The shift of some to prostitution and pimping has tragic consequences of its own, as is evident in the stories of women like Ashley. A 22-year-old from Boston, she finally got away from her pimp - and boyfriend - three years ago, but not before he beat her repeatedly and got her pregnant.

He was a drug dealer when they met five years ago. At first, he had her meet with clients a couple of times a week. But soon, Ashley said, he was spending less time dealing and more time driving her to clubs and places like Atlantic City to find clients.

Her pimp, who was about three years older, saw the trade as "something to fall back on," Ashley said, an easy way to make money and steer clear of law enforcement. "They don't really have to go out there and put in the effort to do anything. It's just drop you off and pick you up."

By the time she was 19, he had her working every day, sometimes for 12 hours. He would not let her quit each day until she had brought in at least $500, Ashley said. If she protested, he beat her up, she said. Ultimately, her pimp was arrested on drug charges.

Pimps are generally charged under federal human trafficking laws, which can carry significant prison terms. But they are difficult cases to prosecute, said Fitzgerald. The women are often too afraid of their pimps, too in love , or both, to testify against them.

In Massachusetts, there is no specific human trafficking law. State Senator Mark C. Montigny has proposed legislation that would create a state law against traffickers and punish offenders with up to 20 years in prison. Victim advocates say they hope more government attention to the issue will show people that prostitution is not a victimless crime.

"The major thing that we have to look at as a city and as a country is that this is going to be a major public health crisis," O'Connell said. "More and more individuals are seeing the criminal side of this and the big money they can make. You're going to be seeing more and more of this demand. There is going to be more need for product and that product is a girl."

Maria Cramer can be reached at mcramer@globe.com.