Appeals Court Upholds Woburn Sex Trafficker's Conviction

WOBURN, MA — An appeals court upheld the conviction of a Boston man who was sentenced to serve seven to 10 years in prison on human trafficking charges. Charles Steed, 32, of Boston, was arrested after Woburn police investigated an online advertisement for prostitution in January 2017. In his appeal, Steed argued he was arrested before he received money an undercover police officer paid to a prostitute.

"On the evidence in the case before us, we conclude that the interruption of the transaction before the defendant gained physical possession of his share of the proceeds does not bar his conviction on a charge of deriving support from a prostitute, as a share of the money was his, by prior arrangement, as soon as it was paid by the officer to one of the women trafficked by the defendant," the appeals court wrote in a ruling issued Tuesday.

Steed was convicted by a jury and sentenced in November 2017. According to court documents, Woburn police responded to a Backpage.com ad and arranged for a "date'' to pay for sex at a local hotel. As police set up surveillance, Steed dropped off two women who entered the hotel. Steed parked the car, which was registered in his name, and the women went to a hotel room.

The women told police that over the course of several months Steed regularly supplied them with heroin and cocaine before and after they performed sexual services for a fee with customers. Steed kept all of the money earned.

The women told police there was another woman who worked for Steed. The women told police that Steed had gone by the hospital on his way to the hotel, picked up the third woman, who was in the hospital recovering from surgery, and brought her to the same hotel to sell herself for money.