(This story is by Bob Dunn, of the Berkshire Eagle.)
[P]ITTSFIELD, Mass. — A New York man who is accused of luring two women to Berkshire County — one of them from Rutland — for the purposes of selling them for sex was arraigned Wednesday in Berkshire Superior Court.
Charles Robinson, 42, who has also used the names Charles Robertson, Byron Pitts and Chase Pitts, was already being held without bail as dangerous after his lower court arraignment in the same case in October.
Assistant Berkshire District Attorney Dana Parsons requested a hearing date of Jan. 5 to determine if Robinson should continue to be held without bail.
Robinson pleaded not guilty before Judge Daniel Ford to three counts of trafficking a person for sexual servitude and one count each of deriving support from prostitution and conspiracy to traffic a person for sexual servitude.
Robinson, of Peekskill, is accused of picking up a woman in Rutland, Vermont, on Oct. 20 whom he had befriended online and bringing her back to Massachusetts. There he allegedly gave her heroin, “pimped her out” and “sold her for sex” over the next five to eight days.
Robinson is also accused of communicating with a second woman during the same period and making arrangements to pick her up, bring her back to the town of Lee and provide her with drugs.
At some point, the first woman told Robinson she was hungry and asked to go to McDonald’s. It was then she stole his car and returned to Rutland, where she contacted police.
Police say that while she was in Vermont, the woman received a text message from the second woman, who said she was being held against her will by Robinson and asked for help. The two women had known each other for a few months, according to police. Police learned Robinson had an active arrest warrant and that he was staying at a hotel in Lee, where he was arrested.
The second woman was with him when he was taken into custody, according to court records.
At his November dangerousness hearing, Robinson’s attorney Jill Sheldon disputed the state’s characterization of the incident and said the things that went on in the hotel “may not be very pretty … but they aren’t what’s alleged.” Sheldon said the sex and drug activity was consensual.
Sheldon also raised doubts during the dangerousness hearing about the women’s statements that they were being held against their will.
