SEEKONK, MASS. (WHDH) - A 39-year-old man arrested after police responded to a Seekonk hotel and discovered an apparent prostitution ring in 2020 was sentenced to jail, according to officials.
The Bristol County District Attorney’s Office announced that Leonard Jenkins of Lynn was sentenced to three years in state prison after he pleaded guilty to several charges stemming from his arrest.
In a news release, the DA’s office detailed how Jenkins was arrested on Oct. 26, 2020, after police in Seekonk were called to the Quality Inn on Highland Avenue for a report of a woman who called saying she had been held against her will.
Arriving officers found and spoke with the woman, who claimed Jenkins had thrown a remote control at her and “wouldn’t let her leave because of a ‘debt,'” according to officials.
“The woman explained she has sex with men for money in order to pay off her debt to him,” the DA’s office stated. “She also said her daughter does the same thing and gives the money to the defendant.”
Officers proceeded to search the room the woman said she had been staying in, where police found both adult DVDs as well as lingerie.
The woman also gave a description of Jenkins’s car, which matched that of a vehicle police recalled seeing driving away “at a high rate of speed” as they arrived.
Officers later found Jenkins at a gas station near the scene and arrested the suspect.
Following a grand jury investigation, the DA’s office said that on April 21, Jenkins pleaded guilty to indictments charging him with:
- Deriving Support from Prostitution
- Attempt to Suborn Perjury
- Intimidation
“I am glad the defendant was held accountable for selling the victims’ sexual services for money. He clearly took advantage of the victims in a manipulative and despicable way,” District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III stated in the news release.
Jenkins was sentenced to serve three years in state prison along with one year of supervised probation.
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