A man who was involved in organizing sex workers to assist his friends has been apprehended in an undercover police operation.
A person acting as an intermediary for a group of individuals involved in the sex industry was apprehended by law enforcement during an undercover operation.
Bogdan Cheptanariu, 31, appeared at Liverpool Crown Court on Friday, October 13, where it was heard he became involved in the sex trade in 2016 and was helping out several female friends by managing their work.
The arrangement started out as a favour but turned into a business agreement. As part of his involvement he would meet prospective clients, handle money, advertise on the women’s behalf and even transport them around, reports Liverpool Echo.
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He was arrested as part of Operation March, a police investigation into the trafficking of Romanian sex workers in Liverpool, and pleaded guilty to controlling prostitution for gain.
Prosecuting, Geoff Whelan said texts on Cheptanariu’s phone showed he was in contact with several known sex workers between August 2016 and September 2020. The court then heard how business started in Birmingham and Dudley before moving to Kidderminster, Nantwich, and finally Liverpool.
He also arranged international travel for a number of sex workers as it was heard Cheptanariu “appeared to be the manager and the middle man”.
This was as he met with potential clients before the sex workers and handled their finances. In January 2020, he was caught driving a female sex worker to and from a Nantwich hotel with an undercover police officer.
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The court accepted the 31-year-old, who has no previous convictions, had not coerced the women into sex work, and had been “happy to help his friends” when he first became involved as he knew it could be dangerous.
Judge Stuart Driver said: “You were the manager and middle man and your actions included driving them to locations and negotiating finances. There are aggravating factors; it wasn’t one woman, it was three, it was for a long period of time and in a number of different parts of the country. But then there’s the mitigation of your previous good character.”
He handed down a 10-month suspended prison sentence and ordered Cheptanariu to carry out 100 hours of unpaid work.
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