Prostitution Ring Defendant Denied Bail
EL PASO, Texas (AP) -- A woman who was among 10 people arrested in Baltimore on charges of running a prostitution ring in the West Texas border city of El Paso has been denied bail after pleading not guilty.
Four other defendants also pleaded not guilty Wednesday before a federal judge, but waived their rights to detention hearings.
Three more suspects among the five men and five women, including alleged ringleader Alarcon Allen Wiggins, were awaiting attorney assignments and scheduled for initial hearings Monday. Two of the women remained in Baltimore.
A federal indictment alleges that starting in December 2009, Wiggins and his group enticed women to come to El Paso and forced them into prostitution. It also alleges the suspects seized the women's earnings and cell phones so they could not ask for help.
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
