Frosh announces indictments in human trafficking investigation

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Maryland Attorney General Brian E. Frosh is indicting two individuals charged with human trafficking. Valdez Lawrence, of Baltimore, and Mary Carr, of Dundalk, allegedly forced women to engage in sexual acts for money in Anne Arundel, Baltimore and Howard counties and in Baltimore city.  Charges in the indictment include human trafficking, conspiracy, receiving earnings of a prostitute and identity fraud, Frosh’s office said Thursday.

Anne Arundel County detectives came in contact with a victim engaging in prostitution in August 2018.  The victim said she was working for Lawrence and that he controlled her movements and interactions with clients.  Detectives started investigating both Lawrence and Carr and learned how they enticed women to work for them and then coerced and threatened them to continue engaging in human trafficking, the attorney general’s office alleges.

Over a nine-month investigation, Anne Arundel County detectives conducted surveillance on Lawrence and Carr and met with trafficking victims.  Detectives followed their movements to several motels and hotels where Valdez and Lawrence arranged for the victims to meet with countless men willing to pay for sexual activity, Frosh’s office alleges.

The women had to ask permission to buy food and personal items, were forced to meet monetary quotas each week or face repercussions from Valdez and Carr, were forced to remain in the hotel rooms until they were allowed to move and were required to turn over all of the money they received from the men paying for the sexual acts, the attorney general’s office alleges.

“These individuals brutalized women, and they engaged in human trafficking for profit throughout Central Maryland,” said Frosh in a news release.  “The victims suffered incalculable harm, and we are grateful to our law enforcement partners for their collaboration in bringing the perpetrators to justice.”