BOSTON (AP) - A 33-year-old Boston man has been charged under the state’s human trafficking laws for allegedly forcing a teenage girl into prostitution.
Tyrone Battle was ordered held on $75,000 bail after pleading not guilty Wednesday to charges including aggravated rape and trafficking a person for sexual servitude.
Prosecutors say Battle met the runaway girl three years ago at an MBTA station when she was 14. Authorities say he took her home and raped her at gunpoint. The rapes and threats continued for three years until she contacted police last week. Prosecutors say she was forced into prostitution and cut off from her family.
Battle’s lawyer says the allegations are “unsupported” and the two never had a relationship. He says the teen has been harassing his client.
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