MILFORD — Tracking a woman’s mobile phone led police to arrest a man on human trafficking, prostitution, and other charges Thursday.
Late Wednesday evening, Milford Police said they got a call from the Lawrence, Massachusetts, Police Department. A woman’s boyfriend in Lawrence told police he had received text messages from her saying she was being held against her will and treated like a sex slave.
The locator signal of her phone indicated she was near the Motel 6, on 111 Schoolhouse Rd. in Milford, according to police.
“We had a picture (of her) sent down to us,” said PFC Mike DeVito, spokesman for the Milford police. “We had a little perimeter set up (at the motel). One of our officers actually spotted her walking out the back door into the parking lot. She brought us back up to her room, where there were two other females working out of that room,” said DeVito.
Police said Barry Davis, 36, of Burlington, Mass. had picked up three women in Massachusetts and given them heroin and cocaine over the course of several days and brought them to Connecticut to act as prostitutes. Two of the women had done this in the past and were afraid of Davis, according to police. The third was not a willing participant in the prostitution and had texted her boyfriend, who contacted police.
Police found Davis had heroin and cocaine in his possession. He was also charged with unlawful restraint, promoting prostitution, trafficking in persons and two counts of narcotics possession.
Davis was held on $250,000 bond and was scheduled to appear in court Thursday. It remains to be seen what charges he may face in Massachusetts.
Police are still investigating why Davis came to Milford.
“He could’ve been there (Motel 6) five or six times and used five or six different names,” said Devito, based on preliminary information. The motel’s recordkeeping has not been thorough, he said.
