CAMBRIDGE — After months of speculation and judicial rigmarole, some of the men accused of buying sex through a Cambridge-area brothel ring that operated out of luxury apartments were publicly identified in court on Friday.
The dozen men charged with allegedly paying for sex hail from disparate backgrounds. A twenty-something radiographer who grew up in Concord and works at a major Boston hospital. A Natick dentist. A software engineer from Waltham who is going through a divorce. A Winchester man in his mid-50s who has worked for a pharmaceutical giant.
In the 16 months since authorities dismantled the brothel ring and vowed accountability for the men who kept it running through payments of hundreds of dollars an hour for sex work, the names of the accused remained private because of legal challenges. Until now.
Twelve of the men were identified Friday. They included: Patrick Walsh, of Swampscott, Pinhao Chao, of Allston, John J. Doran, of Wellesley, David LaCava, of Waltham, Jason Han, of Roxbury, Jonathan P. Lanfear, of Winchester, Pablo Domingo Maceira, of Boston, Peter H. MacGillivray of Boston, Kerry Wu, of Natick, Boya Zhou, of West Roxbury, Mark Zhu of Lincoln, and Yihong Zou, of Boston.
Only two of those 12 showed up to Friday’s hearing, walking through a gauntlet of media and angry protesters, while others gave up their right to provide personal testimony and avoided the frenzy outside the courthouse and the attention inside it.
Clerk Sharon Casey agreed to file charges against all of them, telling a couple of the accused, “There is sufficient evidence to establish probable cause.”
Each of the accused will be summoned for arraignment in the coming weeks in Cambridge District Court in Medford. The two accused who did show, and their attorneys, declined to comment outside the East Cambridge courthouse.
They are the alleged customers of the brothel ring that shuttled exploited women between luxury apartments in Cambridge, Watertown, and the Washington, D.C., suburbs until federal authorities shut it down in late 2023. The case drew national headlines after prosecutors said the elaborate operation’s thorough bookkeeping allowed them to identify many of the men who had bought sex there. Those men, authorities have said, included public officials, military officers, and government contractors with security clearances, as well as others in positions of responsibility, power, or wealth, such as doctors, professors, and corporate executives.
In the courtroom, Cambridge Police Lieutenant Jarred Cabral painted a picture of how the brothel ran.
The text exchanges between its operators and clients are quick and businesslike, with “pleases,” “thank yous,” and even a “have a great day.” The men request certain women, often by stage name, agreeing to spend hundreds of dollars for a “girlfriend experience” over the course of an hour. They typically called the payment a “donation,” as is common in the sex trade, Cabral said.
The men were each directed to the entrance of an apartment complex and were to send a text message to be buzzed in. They were not to linger in the hallway, the brothel operators warned; go straight to the room, but if there are other people around, hang back by the stairs or elevator. Once inside, don’t make off-the-books deals with the women, or else you will be banned.
In court, John Pensa, a lawyer for Han, said that “certainly the alleged behavior is morally wrong.” But he said Han has no criminal record, citing his job as a radiologic tech and calling him a “young health care hero.” Han, 29, works at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
Pensa said Han is “extremely remorseful and embarrassed.” He acknowledged there is probable cause, but asked that Casey, the clerk, not move ahead with charges.
But as she did for others accused, Casey deferred to Cambridge police, who said they wanted her to bring charges. Casey then addressed Han directly, saying she expects this to be a “blip” in his life.
”I know you’re gonna get through it,” she said.
Pensa and Han had no comment as reporters surrounded and followed them, calling out questions as they left the courthouse.
Kevin Mahoney, an attorney representing LaCava, the Waltham man, questioned why only certain people now face charges related to the brothel ring.
Authorities have previously said that the brothel hot line had more than 2,800 contacts in it, meaning those identified in the East Cambridge hearing may be a fraction of the brothel’s patronage.
Authorities in the Boston area have said they plan to charge 28 men for now, choosing those who had the most contact with the brothel. Generally, police wrote, they drew the line at 400 text exchanges.
The rest of the 28 men were identified in the investigation are slated to appear in court on later dates.
Hours before the hearings began, several anti-exploitation organizations demonstrated outside the courthouse. They called out “Shame on you!” and “People are not products!” as the two men who showed up in court and their attorneys left the courthouse.
Mary Speta, executive director of Amirah, a Beverly-based group that helps people escape prostitution and trafficking, credited the US attorney’s office and Cambridge police for bringing the men to court. She said that the wheels of justice may move slowly, but that the fact they’re moving at all against men accused of buying sex, particularly with hearings in public, brings hope to the women her organization helps.
”We keep assuming at some point power would protect power,” said Speta, herself a survivor of the sex trade. Now, she said, the question is: “Is this actually a shift in approach, or is this just a moment?”
Three people were charged in federal court with operating the brothel ring, and all have pleaded guilty.
A state task force working with federal authorities subsequently sought charges against the 28 accused men in Cambridge District Court in December 2023. But hearings on whether criminal charges should be brought, known as “show-cause” hearings, were delayed, as the men sought to keep them closed to the public.
Typically, “show-cause” hearings are private. They’re used when someone’s accused of a misdemeanor crime for which they were not arrested. These hearings are held in front of a clerk-magistrate, who determines if there’s probable cause for formal charges.
If so, the case enters the public record.
The process is unique to Massachusetts, and has often come under scrutiny, with critics taking aim at the lack of transparency and the possibility of preferential treatment.
In the brothel case, following the requests of media outlets including the Globe, the Cambridge clerk-magistrate ordered the hearings to be opened to the public. But the men continued to challenge the open hearings in a series of court appeals. Media outlets also requested more public documentation about the case. The state Supreme Judicial Court ultimately ruled the hearings should be held in public.
The charge of paying for sex, which is what each of the men faces, typically does not result in jail time, even when there is a conviction.
But many advocates for exploited women say the public shaming that can come with such a charge is an important deterrent. If they can stop people from buying sex, they say, they can stop the exploitation and trafficking of women.
Jeremiah Manion and Travis Andersen of the Globe staff contributed to this report.
Sean Cotter can be reached at sean.cotter@globe.com. Follow him @cotterreporter. Danny McDonald can be reached at daniel.mcdonald@globe.com. Follow him @Danny__McDonald. Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com.