Danvers woman charged with trying to prostitute girl
DANVERS — A 33-year-old woman has been charged with trying to turn a 13-year-old runaway into a prostitute, police say, a plan that was thwarted by three would-be "johns."
Maria Trinidad, who had been placed by the Department of Transitional Assistance in a room at the Motel 6 in Danvers, pleaded not guilty to deriving support from prostitution and inducing a minor into prostitution during her arraignment yesterday afternoon.
She is being held on $75,000 cash bail, set by Judge Richard Mori, who also ordered that if she makes bail, she is to have no unsupervised contact with children under 18.
She was arrested yesterday morning by Danvers and state police at a Malden motel, where she had been moved recently.
Prosecutor Colleen Cashman said Trinidad came to the attention of police in late June, after Cambridge police were called to the Children's Hospital emergency room to investigate a possible sexual assault on the girl.
The girl, who is from the Boston area, had run away from home on June 19 and was staying with friends, when she met Trinidad's 17-year-old son. He allegedly told the girl that his mother could help her make some money, then brought her to the Route 1 motel.
The girl told police that Trinidad, who was staying in the room with her 1-year-old child, gave her food and told her she could stay there as long as she wanted. But the following day, June 22, the girl said she woke up to find three men in the room.
The girl told investigators that when Trinidad left the room, they told her that Trinidad was trying to prostitute her and asked her how old she was. She told them.
One of those men, identified in court papers by the street name "Manager," told investigators the girl "looked like she was 12 years old and very scared," Cashman said.
The men told her to stay in the room and that they would come back to get her later.
A few hours after that, the girl heard knocks at a window in the first-floor room and saw two women, who were friends of the men, urging her to come out. The girl told them she was scared.
So the men approached Trinidad, telling her they wanted to "rent" the girl. They paid $70 to Trinidad, who told the girl, "You're going with them." The men, who told Trinidad they had rented a room at the motel, instead brought the barefoot girl to their car and drove her to her brother's home.
Cashman told Mori that Trinidad is facing a minimum mandatory sentence of at least eight years in prison if she is convicted.
"This woman clearly will not appear in court if released on a small cash bail," Cashman said.
Defense lawyer Lawrence McGuire argued that his client is not a madam, but simply a struggling single mother who is trying to raise her baby in difficult circumstances. He said Trinidad would not want to break the strict rules about guests while she was receiving emergency housing at the motel from the Department of Transitional Assistance.
"The whole story is just rather bizarre," McGuire said yesterday. He pointed to contradictions in the accounts offered by one of the men and the two women who had appeared at the window.
He said his client had seen the girl just a few days ago at a pool in Cambridge, where Trinidad had once lived. He said the girl told Trinidad that investigators were "trying to get me to say things about when I was on the run."
A probable cause hearing is scheduled for Sept. 9.
Salem news
This poor girl was pimped out to 3 guys for $70.00??
SEVENTY FUCKING DOLLARS?? To me thats a few beers and a lunch. Chrissy would of picked up an extra shift at CVS to get into that line.
1 comment:
you dam right i would have! well it depends on what she looks like...
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