NH Madam Found Guilty On Human Trafficking, Prostitution Charges

SALEM, MA — A New Hampshire woman has been found guilty of human trafficking and other charges in a Massachusetts court, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office. Lori Barron, 54, of Salem, NH, was convicted of three counts of human trafficking, prostitution, and photographing an unsuspecting person in the nude on June 19, 2017, in Salem MA Superior Court, according to a press statement. Barron was found not guilty on a witness intimidation charge.

Barron had her bail revoked and will have a sentencing hearing in late July, according to the Essex County District Attorney’s Office. Human trafficking charges have a mandatory minimum sentence of five years in state prison and a maximum of 20 years.

“The victims in this case showed great courage in testifying despite having to expose their own mistakes,” District Attorney Jonathan Blodgett said. “In doing so, they enabled us to hold this defendant accountable and protect other young women from exploitation. It is my hope that this verdict allows them to move forward knowing that, in fact, they were victimized by this defendant.”

Essex Assistant District Attorney Kate MacDougall, according to the statement, presented evidence that proved that Barron recruited young women to perform sexual acts for a fee at her massage parlor in Lawrence, MA. After hiring the women to work as a receptionist, she would pressure them to give massages and instructed them to perform a sex act at the conclusion of the massage. She videotaped the women performing the sex acts and threatened to show the videos to family members or the Department of Children and Families if the women refused to perform the sex acts.

Barron was arrested in June 2013, after one of the young women reported to police that Barron was operating a prostitution business at the Day Spa for Gentlemen on Broadway in Lawrence.

Back in June 2011, Barron pleaded guilty to an obscenity charge in Salem NH District Court as part of a plea deal to avoid jail time on two prostitution charges. At the time, she was working as a massage therapist at a weight loss spa on Main Street.