Man Arrested on Human Trafficking Charges in East Lyme

EAST LYME — A Massachusetts man wanted on human trafficking charges was arrested in East Lyme Monday evening after town police tracked him down to a local motel.

Anthony Maness, 37, of Framingham, was taken into custody as a fugitive from justice. He awaits extradition by the Massachusetts State Police (MSP) and faces charges of deriving support from earnings of a prostitute and trafficking persons for sexual servitude, according to a press release from the Connecticut State Police Troop E barracks in Montville.

A Massachusetts State Police special services unit contacted East Lyme police with a report that Maness was staying at an unspecified motel in town with a female victim, police said.

Just before East Lyme police got to the hotel, Maness received a phone call saying the state police were looking for him. The suspect and the victim fled the motel by foot into a wooded area, although East Lyme Officer J. Levandoski saw the woman running through a nearby apartment complex, the news release said.

The alleged victim was then detained and taken to an area hospital for evaluation, police said.

Maness was caught trying to enter a car that didn’t belong to him. He was taken into custody without further incident and transported to Troop E. While at the barracks, police said he suffered a medical emergency and was admitted to an area hospital.

Maness was held on a $50,000 cash bond. The Day newspaper reported that he was still in the hospital Tuesday evening.