Two Maryland men pleaded guilty to recruiting women over the Internet to work as prostitutes.
Robert Downing, 46, and Michael Wesley Lee, 31, both of Odenton, pleaded guilty to using an interstate facility to promote a prostitution business, according to their plea agreements.
Prosecutors said Lee was a pimp from at least 2012 until his arrest in August 2013, and Downing worked for Lee.
According to Lee's plea agreement, he used "coercion, fraud, force, and threats of force to maintain control" over women he lured to prostitute for him and rented hotel rooms for prostitution. The agreement references three women Lee attempted to prostitute, including a woman Lee transported from New York to the Maryland Live! casino in Anne Arundel County in February 2013.
Downing pimped two women while Lee was in jail in 2013, according to Downing’s plea agreement.
Lee also pleaded guilty to conspiring to commit sex trafficking by force and fraud and must register as a sex offender, according to a statement from prosecutors.
If the court accepts the plea, Lee would receive 13 years in prison with five years of supervised release; Downing would get 46 months in prison.
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Sentencing is scheduled for March 30.
