Man accused of promoting prostitution denied bond

5/8/2007

A federal judge has ordered a Toledo man charged in connection with underage prostitution to be held without bond.

Kevin L. Murphy, 48, of 3394 Cherry St., faces decades behind bars if he is convicted of promoting and compelling prostitution of a minor. He is accused of transporting several women and at least one minor from Toledo to Washington and Dearborn, Mich., last year to work as prostitutes. He also is charged with transporting four women to Peoria, Ill., for the same purpose.

An obviously distraught Mr. Murphy demanded a new defense attorney yesterday during a detention hearing in U.S. District Court.

"You guys talk about putting me away for the rest of my life and I [haven't] done nothing," he told Magistrate Vernelis Armstrong, as he glanced at a federal prosecutor and an FBI agent nearby.

The magistrate assured him that he was innocent unless and until proved otherwise. Still, she added, a long history of prior arrests for unrelated charges weighed against him, and she ordered him held without bond until his next hearing, as yet unscheduled.