Leoney Pleads Not Guilty to Human Trafficking

Michael Leoney, 49, who was convicted of raping a woman in Jamaica Plain in 1981, pleaded not guilty to human trafficking charges Wednesday. He is being held on $75,000 bail, according to Brad Puffer, director of communications for the attorney general’s office.

Leoney is charged with trafficking of persons for sexual servitude and delivering support from a prostitute, according to a press statement from Attorney General Martha Coakley.

An attorney general's office investigation determined that Leoney allegedly ran the operation, coordinated the recruitment of women into prostitution, and managed the financial aspects of the organization, according to the statement.

Leoney allegedly advertised sexual services on websites known to advertise prostitution and arranged for these encounters either at the homes of “johns” or at hotels in the Greater Boston area. According to investigators, Leoney typically received the full profits from these sexual encounters, the statement said.

Boston.com reported in 1981, a 17-year-old Leoney threatened a woman with a knife outside her South Huntington Avenue apartment. He then dragged her into an alley and robbed and raped her. He is also convicted of raping two women at knifepoint in 1980, the site reported.

He is listed as a Level 3 sex offender in the Massachusetts Sex Offender Registry.