Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin announced today Troy Footman (age 54), of Boston, was sentenced by Superior Court Justice Susan E. McGuirl to a total of 85 years to serve for the sex trafficking of a teenage girl. Footman was found guilty in July 2015 of two counts of sex trafficking a minor, two counts of pandering, and one count of operating a motor vehicle on a suspended license.
Justice McGuirl imposed a sentence of 40 years to serve for each count of sex trafficking, the maximum allowed under the law. In addition, she sentenced Footman to a five-year consecutive sentence on one count of pandering and a five-year concurrent sentence which was suspended with probation on the second count of pandering, as well as a 30-day sentence, to run concurrent, on the count of driving on a suspended license.
During the trial, the State proved Footman developed a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old runaway, and encouraged her to take a job dancing at Cheaters, a strip club in Providence, to make money, which he pocketed. Footman also placed an advertisement on Backpage.com for the girl as an escort, and arranged encounters at hotels and motels in Massachusetts. At Footman's direction, the young girl began to prostitute at Cheaters; Footman identified men in the club to solicit, set prices for sexual acts she performed, and took her money at the end of each shift.
Seekonk Police located another missing teenager at a Seekonk hotel, who identified the 14-year-old as "Footman's girl," and that Footman was the girl's pimp. Providence Police sent an undercover officer to Cheaters to investigate, where he was solicited by the young girl identified as "Footman's girl" for sex.
Footman was convicted in Massachusetts in 1987 of sexual assault and convicted federally in 1999 of interstate transportation of a minor for prostitution.
"The underground world of sex trafficking is filled with predators like Troy Footman, who seek out vulnerable, young victims to manipulate into believing they have no other option but to sell their body to survive," said Attorney General Kilmartin. "Today's sentence marks the second time in a month in which a sex trafficker has received the maximum penalty allowed for their crime, which reflects the changing attitudes towards and the greater understanding of the crime of sex trafficking and the victims who are enslaved by others."
Special Assistant Attorney General Sara Tindall-Woodman and Assistant Attorney General and Chief of the Criminal Division Stacey P. Veroni prosecuted the case on behalf of the Office of Attorney General.