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Nine men arrested in undercover prostitution sting at South Bay
A lawyer for one of the men alleged he was arrested in a case of mistaken identity and just happened to be staying at one of the hotels used in the sting.
A research scientist and a man visiting Boston with an Algerian delegation were among the nine people arrested last week in an undercover prostitution sting focused on the area surrounding the South Bay mall.
Eight of the men were charged with paying for sex, a misdemeanor. A ninth, Raj Kumar Sah, 33, was charged with felony enticement of a child younger than 16.
Those charged with “sex for a fee” include 30-year-old Mohamed Djadoune; 39-year-old Jason Vinci, of Medford; 47-year-old Jose Luis Pinedu Colocho, of Dorchester; 36-year-old Pradeep Mishra, of Shrewsbury; 68-year-old Frederick Williams, of Boston; 24-year-old Juan Jose Galdamez Surio, of Shrewsbury; 62-year-old Konstantinos Mamanidis, of Dedham; and 27-year-old Roberto Pena, of Boston. Court records indicate Surio is also charged with shoplifting and resisting arrest.
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The July 24 sting operation used undercover Boston officers to draw out alleged “exploiters, traffickers, and sex buyers,” the Boston Police Department explained in a news release. According to a police report, authorities launched the initiative after the Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit received a tip that women in the area were being exploited for commercial sex.
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“The investigation further uncovered the involvement of organized criminal networks, which were preying on vulnerable individuals — particularly those facing poverty, addiction, unstable housing, or other forms of hardship,” the report states.
The arrests followed a similar undercover Boston police operation in June that nabbed 13 people.
Some of the alleged sex buyers arrested last week purportedly responded to online ads posted by an undercover officer, while others approached undercover officers who were standing on the sidewalk around Newmarket Square.
After reportedly agreeing to pay $200 for “bare sex” with an undercover officer, Galdamez Surio allegedly fled on foot when officers tried to arrest him at a Holiday Inn Express on Boston Street. According to police, Galdamez Surio ducked into a Target and grabbed a shirt off the racks in an attempt to disguise himself and evade arrest, though officers eventually caught up to him in the parking lot.
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Sah, meanwhile, was arrested during an alleged meetup at nearby Home2 Suites by Hilton on Jan Karski Way. Police alleged Sah responded to an online ad and offered an undercover officer posing as a 15-year-old girl $300 to “tease me show me some hot moves and then good f—,” per one police report.
Sah worked at a Boston Children’s Hospital lab, though the hospital clarified his work was focused on research and he had no patient contact.
“When we became aware of the allegation against Raj Kumar Sah, we immediately began the process of termination,” a hospital spokesperson said in a statement.
Eight of the nine men have pleaded not guilty thus far. Mishra is due for arraignment Aug. 19. Lawyers for Pena and Mamanidis did not return requests for comment Tuesday, and attorney information for several of the other men was not immediately available.
Patrick Madden Gioia, a lawyer for Djadoune, said his client is “factually innocent.” He explained Djadoune is visiting the U.S. with a delegation from Algeria and was staying at one of the hotels where police conducted the sting.
According to Gioia, Djadoune was at the hotel preparing for a group outing when an attractive woman asked him whether he was the one who had been texting her. Not fluent in English, he pulled out his phone in confusion and was promptly arrested, Gioia explained.
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“I do think they did get the wrong person,” Gioia said by phone, also noting his client has no prior criminal record.
The phone number listed in the police report doesn’t even match Djadoune’s, he asserted. He said Djadoune consented to a search of his cellphone and voluntarily provided police the password to show he was not in communication with the undercover officer.
“I’d like the police to call that number and see if my client’s phone rings,” Gioia added.
He said he’s asked prosecutors to dismiss the case and, failing that, to proceed to a trial as soon as possible.
“You’ve got to make sure you’re arresting the right person when you’re doing these stings,” Gioia said.
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