BOSTON – A Springfield man pleaded guilty yesterday in federal court in Springfield to racketeering offenses relating to the promotion of commercial sex.
Kevin Smoot, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to use a facility of interstate commerce to promote prostitution offenses and seven counts of use of a facility of interstate commerce to promote prostitution offenses. U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni scheduled sentencing for Aug. 19, 2021. On June 26, 2020, Smoot was arrested and charged by complaint. He was indicted in July 2020.
Between February 2019 and June 2020, Smoot conspired with others to promote commercial sex involving several women. Smoot promoted prostitution by transporting women to and from commercial sex appointments, recruiting and encouraging women to engage in commercial sex acts for money, and helping to procure illegal drugs for use by drug-addicted women engaged in commercial sex. Smoot promoted prostitution by providing a residential location for commercial sex acts between female victims of sex trafficking and male customers, taking actions to collect money from male customers, and benefiting from the proceeds of commercial sex acts performed by female victims of sex trafficking.
The charging statutes provide for a sentence of up to five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and other statutory factors.
Acting United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell; Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey; William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Hampden County Sheriff Nicholas Cocchi; Colonel Christopher Mason, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; and Springfield Police Commissioner Cheryl Clapprood made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Mendell’s Springfield Branch Office is prosecuting the case.
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