BOSTON (AP) — A Massachusetts man who authorities say forced four heroin-addicted women into prostitution has been sentenced to 17 years in prison.
Federal prosecutors say 31-year-old Duhamel Cassagnol, of Milton, was also sentenced Tuesday to five years of probation and ordered to pay more than $13,000 to the victims.
He previously pleaded guilty to charges including sex trafficking by force.
Cassagnol was arrested along with 24-year-old Geneiva Whaley, of Connecticut, in December 2017. She was sentenced in October to a year in prison.
Authorities say they advertised the victims online and housed them in hotel rooms reserved in Whaley’s name in Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York and Florida.
They kept the women addicted, promising heroin only if they generated income. Cassagnol also beat three of the victims and threatened violence against the fourth.
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