A 29-year-old man is accused of kidnapping and sexually trafficking a woman who prosecutors said was held for six weeks in the unfinished attic of a home in Malden, Massachusetts, before the property owner discovered her and called police.
Jordende Pierre faces charges including trafficking a person for sexual servitude, kidnapping and indecent assault and battery on a person 14 or older.
Prosecutors said the woman was found Sunday naked and malnourished on a mat in the attic of a multifamily home on Summer Street.
“She clearly had not eaten. She was dirty. She was living, essentially, in squalor in this attic area,” Middlesex County Assistant District Attorney Jacob McCrindle said in court.
Authorities said a 5-gallon bucket containing urine was found near the woman.
According to prosecutors, Pierre met the woman through a dating app and took her to the Malden home about six weeks before she was discovered.
Prosecutors said the woman struggled with substance abuse and alleged that she was given drugs at the home. Prosecutors allege Pierre sexually assaulted her and forced her to have sexual encounters with other men who went to the property.
“The defendant would arrange for those dates,” McCrindle said.
Prosecutors also described how they allege Pierre prevented the woman from leaving the attic.
“The door handle in this attic area, it could be removed, and the defendant would remove that door handle so that she could not leave,” McCrindle said.
Property owner and landlord Qing Sun told NBC Boston exclusively that she and her husband went to the Summer Street property Sunday because of a water leak.
Sun lives off-site but manages the units at the property. She said tenants initially prevented the couple from accessing certain rooms while they were trying to determine where the water problem was coming from.
The couple eventually made their way to the attic, where, Sun said, they discovered the woman and a man, who ran past them. That’s when they called 911.
“It’s a disturbing situation,” Sun said, adding that she was also relieved to find out what was going on.
Police arrived and removed the woman from the property.
Sun said that Pierre was not one of her tenants and that she had no knowledge of anyone living in the attic.
“This guy is not on the list. I’m not aware this guy is living there,” Sun said. “And I’m not aware anybody living in the attic. Nobody’s supposed to live there.”
Pierre was not arrested until Thursday, when multiple law enforcement agencies, including Malden police, the FBI and U.S. marshals, participated in an operation to take him into custody.
“I’m very happy to be able to help this young girl get back to her family,” Sun said.
The allegations stunned people living near the Summer Street property, although some neighbors said the house had drawn attention before. A neighbor described the home as “Frankenstein’s home.”
“We’ve heard rumors about that house in the past,” neighbor Tarra Sewell said. “I would never, ever imagine something happening so close to my home. ... That’s really, really scary.”
Another neighbor described the people coming and going from the property as “kind of a rotating cast of characters,” saying neighbors did not always know who lived there.
Neighbors also described parties and loud music at the property, including on weeknights, and said police had previously responded following complaints.
A neighbor said seeing the large law enforcement presence during Pierre’s arrest made the allegations even more unsettling.
“There were a huge force of police. It sounds like they were very coordinated and organized,” neighbor Kirby Tang said.
Tang said it was painful knowing the woman was alleged to have been held so close to surrounding homes without neighbors realizing what was happening.
“I just feel sorry for her; like, she was 500 feet away, and we couldn’t do anything,” Tang said. “Because we didn’t hear anything.”
Sun said she is checking the property nearly every week now and hopes what happened will encourage others to pay closer attention to their surroundings and report suspicious activity.
Pierre also has an open case of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon in Somerville and had been out on bail.
He’s now being held until his next court hearing in the Malden case on Oct. 6.
Police have not ruled out additional arrests in the Summer Street investigation.
