New Bedford Guide Your Guide to New Bedford and South Coast, MA
A Springfield couple was sentenced yesterday in federal court for operating a prostitution business advertised as “Sinful Innocence.”
U.S. District Court Judge Mark G. Mastroianni sentenced Milford Lewis, 37, to 12 years in prison and five years of supervised release, and his wife, Tiana Lewis, 32, to six years in prison and five years of supervised release. In July 2017, the pair agreed to plead guilty to three counts of inducing travel to engage in prostitution, one count of transporting an individual to engage in prostitution and four counts of extortionate threats.
Milford and Tiana Lewis purported to be the CEOs of an adult talent agency called Sinful Innocence. Through the internet, the couple enticed young women to work as models, adult entertainers, adult pornography actors and escorts. The pair convinced the women to come from other states to Springfield, and in one case, they transported a woman from Connecticut to Springfield to work.
The women signed year-long contracts, for which there was a $350 early termination fee. The victims were taken to a house in Springfield and/or to various motels in West Springfield to work as prostitutes, sometimes without receiving any pay. If they wanted to leave, or if they broke the rules of Sinful Innocence, they were subjected to beatings and threats to kill or harm them. The couple also threatened the women with violence when the women were unable to pay the $350 termination fee imposed.
Acting United States Attorney William D. Weinreb; Michael Shea, Acting Special Agent in Charge of Homeland Security Investigations in Boston; Colonel Kerry A. Gilpin, Superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police; Hampden County District Attorney Anthony D. Gulluni; and West Springfield Police Chief Ronald Campurciani made the announcement. Assistant U.S. Attorney Alex J. Grant of Weinreb’s Springfield Office prosecuted the case.
