PORTLAND, Maine — A Boston man was sentenced Thursday to 46 months in prison for aiding and abetting the transportation of women across state lines for prostitution.
Fritz Blanchard, 28, also known as “Shake” or “Frank,” was found guilty Aug. 28, 2014, following a four-day jury trial.
Prosecutors said that on March 27, 2013, Blanchard and his associate, Samuel Gravely, 29, of Portland, who is known as “Bigs, caused a Presque Isle woman and a Portland woman to work as prostitutes at a Portland hotel after advertising their services on backpage.com, according to a release from U.S. Attorney Thomas E. Delahanty II.
Backpage.com is a website that allows people to post classified advertisements, including ones for “adult services,” such as escorts.
The following day, they drove the two women, along with another Portland woman, from Portland to Boston, intending for them to work as prostitutes there. When they arrived in Boston, Blanchard took two of the women to Huntington Avenue and told them how to attract customers and engage in prostitution, according to the court documents.
One of the two women then feigned illness, separated herself and called police.
Blanchard and Gravely were charged in federal court in Portland on Oct. 21. Gravely was arrested the next day. Blanchard was arrested in Massachusetts on Dec. 10.
Judge Nancy Torreson sentenced Blanchard to 46 months in prison with 3 years of supervised release to follow.
Gravely, 28, of Portland pleaded guilty to one count of transportation in interstate commerce for prostitution in November 2013 for his role in the incident. He was sentenced in September 2014 to 48 months in prison followed by three years supervised release, according to court documents.
The case was investigated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from the Boston Police Department; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Portland, Presque Isle, Old Town, Brunswick and Saco police departments; the Maine Drug Enforcement Agency; and the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.