BOSTON - A Springfield man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Springfield to sex trafficking.
William Coleman, 48, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit sex trafficking and nine counts of sex trafficking. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for July 9, 2020. Coleman has been in custody since his arrest on Dec. 23, 2018.
Coleman ran a prostitution business in the Springfield area, the greater Hartford, Conn., area, and other parts of Connecticut, from 2016 to 2018. Coleman used violence and the drug addictions of eight female victims to coerce them into engaging in commercial sex acts with paying customers. The victims were typically required to turn over all of their earnings to Coleman, and their daily lives were tightly controlled by him. Most of the women were not allowed to keep any of the money they earned, and they were only to obtain their drugs - in most cases, heroin - from Coleman. Victims who did not engage in prostitution for Coleman, or who did not follow his rules, were subjected to physical assaults, sexual violence and the withholding of drugs. Coleman used websites to post prostitution advertisements for the victims working for him.
The maximum sentence for sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking is life in prison, up to life of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. The charge of sex trafficking provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to life in prison, up to life of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. According to the terms of the plea agreement, Coleman will be sentenced to 186 months in prison. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
United States Attorney Andrew E. Lelling; Hampden County District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni; Jason Molina, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi; Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood; and Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police made the announcement today. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Lelling’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
This case is the result of the efforts of the Western Massachusetts Human Trafficking Working Group which was established in August 2015 to investigate and prosecute crimes involving commercial sex trafficking.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
