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More than a dozen men charged for patronizing a Cambridge brothel network pleaded not guilty to paying for sex on Friday, appearing in court for the first time in the extended legal saga.
Friday morning’s hearing was the first round of arraignment hearings for the 34 total alleged brothel clients. Fourteen of the men appeared in court alongside their lawyers — a contrast from March’s probable cause hearings, where both client and lawyer presence was scarce.
Jason Z. Han and Mark Zhu, who both entered not guilty pleas on Friday, were the only two men who were present at March’s probable cause hearings. Until today, the majority of the alleged clients remained out of the public eye.
The defendants stayed largely quiet during the hearings, only exchanging quiet words with their lawyers concerning their availability for pretrial dates. Most quickly left the court after their time in front of the judge. Benjamin P. Urbelis, who represented half of the defendants, remained in the courtroom for most of the morning.
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The Cambridge Police Department presented evidence at the March probable cause hearings — including text messages sent to the brothel and apartment video surveillance — that resulted in the charges. Each of the men was charged with sexual conduct for a fee, a misdemeanor.
Of the 14 men charged, 12 set their pre-trial date for July 22. Kerry H. Wu and David LaCava will face pre-trial on June 13 and Aug. 1, respectively.
Each hearing proceeded almost identically, with each defendant waiving a public reading of the police report filed against them, stating their plea, and deciding on a pretrial date with Massachusetts District Court Judge David E. Frank.
Cambridge Police Department Lieutenant Jarred Cabral read each of their reports during the probable cause hearings, each showing a similar story. The reports contained screenshots of text messages between their cell phones and a “brothel phone” operated by the brothel’s ringleaders.
Cambrall said that many of the defendants agreed to pay $300 or more for a one-hour “girlfriend experience” — paying for services that mimic a romantic relationship, usually involving commercial sex.
The police reports also outlined each day the defendants “agreed to pay to engage in commercial sex at one of the brothel locations.” The majority of the defendants allegedly patronized the brothels repeatedly.
The remaining 20 defendants will have their arraignment hearings in the coming weeks. The list includes Cambridge City Councilor Paul F. Toner, Mitchell H. Rubenstein, who is listed as an assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School in the University’s directory, and retired Massachusetts General Hospital oncologist James C. Cusack, who was an HMS associate professor.
—Staff writer Shawn A. Boehmer can be reached at shawn.boehmer@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @ShawnBoehmer.
