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Natashia Bowman was sentenced to three years probation and must pay restitution to the victims in the case, the US Attorney's Office for Massachusetts said on Monday, Sept. 19. The former Dorchester woman pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit interstate travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise related to a prostitution business, prosecutors said.
Police accused Bowman of being the top lieutenant for Matthew "Magic" Engram, 35. They say she helped him coerce, recruit, and traffic multiple women from January 2009 until August 2015.
Bowman and Engram promised the women they could earn good money through sex work, and the duo would advertise sex services online, arrange "dates" with clients, and book hotel rooms, federal prosecutors said. But after the women had finished, the couple kept the earnings, and Engram used violence, intimidation, and isolation to create a "climate of fear" to keep them in line and working, the US Attorney's Office said. If the women complained or didn't make enough money, Engrarm would beat them or tell Bowman to do it for him, prosecutors said.
Investigators said the duo trafficked the women to Florida, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and Vermont to have sex with clients.
A federal judge in May sentenced Engram to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking, conspiracy to commit interstate travel in aid of a racketeering enterprise, and two charges of transportation of an individual for purposes of prostitution, officials said.
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