Crime

Journalist Kevin Provencher sentenced to prision for running prostitution ring

By Camille Mann

March 23, 2011 / 2:50 PM EDT / CBS News

Kevin Provencher, a sports writer for the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, NH, stands in Lawrence District Court with his attorney Jessica Thrall during his arraignment for two counts of deriving support from a prostitute in Lawrence, Mass., Wednesda — Kevin Provencher, a sports writer for the Union Leader newspaper in Manchester, NH, stands (center) in Lawrence District Court on July 29, 2009. AP Photo/ Angie Beaulieu, Pool

(CBS/WBZ) SALEM, Mass. - Kevin Provencher, 52, former sports writer for the Union Leader in Manchester, N.H. was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for running a prostitution ring in a Massachusetts hotel.

Prosecutors said Provencher set up a website looking for prostitutes and advertised on Craigslist. On the site he indicated the business was being run by women. Authorities say two women discovered that he was running the business and that he would have sex with women, then hire them, according to CBS station WBZ's report.

Prosecutors also said Provencher would run background checks on people who responded to the ads to make sure they weren't undercover police officers. Then he would rent a room at a hotel have the women make arrangements to meet men, reports the station.

Hotel management became suspicious of him and contacted police. Provencher was arrested at his home in July 2009. Police believe he operated the business for about a year.

The married father of two teenage children with no criminal history pleaded guilty to two counts of procuring a person to practice prostitution and two counts of soliciting prostitution.

In addition to the jail time, Provencher must also serve one year probation and pay a $5,000 fine.

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