The Maryland Attorney General's Office and Prince George's County authorities on Tuesday announced charges against three people accused of running an extensive human trafficking ring across multiple counties, posing as an escort service under the name "Pink Pleasure Entertainment."
Authorities said Rashid Marwan Mosby, 42, of Windsor Mill, Terra Marie Perry, 35, of Baltimore, and Joshua Isaiah Jones, 26, of Greenbelt, placed more than 100 posts on backpage.com, advertising sex in exchange for cash, moving women from various hotel rooms between Baltimore and Washington starting in 2013.
"The scope and the longevity" of the enterprise was "remarkable," said Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh at a news conference Tuesday.
Frosh said the group recruited victims throughout Maryland as a well as surrounding states. The indictment describes how Mosby met at least two women online, dating them, and then persuading the women to prostitute themselves to make money. One victim from Durham, N.C., responded to an ad looking for "model types," the indictment said.
The defendants paid for the victims' food and lodging and then claimed the women had to pay them back, and forcing them to work as a prostitutes, investigators said. They operated in hotels in Prince George's County, as well as several in the Baltimore region, including a Knights Inn in Laurel, a Days Inn and Ramada Inn hotel in Baltimore.
The defendants threatened the women, manipulated them, refused to let them leave, and controlled them, Frosh said.
He described one instance where the defendants bought a train ticket for a juvenile from North Carolina. When she arrived in Washington, D.C., they told her she could not leave because she was indebted to them and had to pay them back. Another woman, Frosh said, was abandoned in North Carolina without her money or credit cards after Mosby assaulted her, and dislocated her shoulder.
"It is an example of an extensive exploitative and cruel and destructive enterprise," he said. "Because we were able to work together, we were able to shut it down."
The investigation began after an arrest by Prince George's County police.
Officials only identified a handful of victims who would cooperate in the indictment but Prince George's County State's Attorney Angela Alsobrooks said investigators believe dozens of others.
"Unfortunately, the emotional bonds that are involved in so many of these cases mean that the young women in these cases do not understand truly the dangerous nature of these enterprises," Alsobrooks said.
She said their reluctance to cooperate with police "means our work has to be much more intensive and collaborative."
Alsobrooks said her office over the past two years has seen 50 human trafficking cases and more than 300 prostitution cases. Many of the human trafficking cases include young women, sometimes children.
"Our partnerships, we believe, are paying off," she said.
The investigation was a collaborative effort with Prince George's County police and prosecutors, state police and the Attorney General's office Organized Crime Unit, which has also taken a greater role in street crime. The Attorney General's Office has traditionally focused on white-collar and environmental cases. In November, the unit also announced indictments against 15 Baltimore men on drug conspiracy charges.
Maj. David Ruel said the investigation is an example of his agency's focus on multi-jurisdictional investigations.
"Since the Maryland State Police restructured its criminal investigation resources to fill the void between local and federal law enforcement, we have been able to impact crime on a larger scale," Ruel said.
The defendants face charges including human trafficking, human trafficking of a minor, conspiracy human trafficking, and receiving earnings of a prostitute.
Mosby's attorney did not return a request for comment Tuesday. Perry and Jones did not have attorneys listed in online court records.
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