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Six defendants charged in soliciting commercial sex through a Cambridge brothel network pleaded not guilty on Friday, marking the final round of arraignments for the 34 men charged in connection to the brothel.
The hearings proceeded nearly identically to those of the other 28 defendants earlier this month — each of the men charged waived his right to a public reading of the police report, requested a pretrial date, and submitted his pleas to Massachusetts District Court Judge David E. Frank.
Friday’s arraignment was the first time the six defendants appeared in court after their names were released publicly in March’s probable cause hearings, which were only attended by two of the men charged. None of the men have criminal records, and all of them were released without bail.
Prosecutor Jasmine Ortiz stated that defendants contacted the “brothel phone” hundreds — for one defendant, thousands — of times to coordinate services. In the March hearings, Cambridge Police Department Lieutenant Jarred Cabral said that many of the defendants paid upwards of $300 in exchange for a one-hour “girlfriend experience,” which Cabral described as an “intimate experience” that can include sex acts, and many made payments for other sexual services.
The six defendants at Friday’s hearing and their counsel quickly exited the courtroom following their individual arraignments.
Among the 34 total defendants are Cambridge City Councilor Paul F. Toner, Mitchell H. Rubenstein, an assistant professor of dermatology at Harvard Medical School, and James C. Cusack, an oncologist and former Harvard Medical School professor.
Earlier this week, James Lee — one of the brothel’s three ringleaders — was sentenced to two years in prison for his involvement in the network, as well as fraudulently collecting hundreds of thousands in Covid relief funds.
The two other individuals — Junmyung Lee and Han Lee — received prison sentences of four years and one year, respectively, following their charges earlier this year. None of the three leaders are related.
The next stage in the brothel case will unfold this summer during the defendants’ pretrial hearings. Of the six men arraigned on Friday, three are scheduled to appear in court on August 1, two on July 22, and one on June 13.
Each of the defendants face a misdemeanor charge — which rarely results in jail time, but typically carries a fine of up to $500. At the pretrial hearings, the men charged will have the opportunity to negotiate a plea deal, attempt to dismiss their case, or set a trial date.
—Staff writer Caroline G. Hennigan can be reached at caroline.hennigan@thecrimson.com. Follow her on X @cghennigan.
