Warren man accused of running brothel pleads guilty to abduction

Staff report

WARREN

A city man who was accused of running a brothel out of his home on Kenilworth Avenue Southeast pleaded guilty to felony abduction Thursday.

Daniel J. Blasco, 64, will be sentenced in about four weeks, after the Trumbull County Adult Probation Department conducts a background report for Judge W. Wyatt McKay. Blasco could get several years in prison.

Blasco was scheduled for a hearing Wednesday before Judge McKay on a promoting prostitution charge, a lesser felony than abduction, but he did not appear and an arrest warrant was issued.

He was arrested later Wednesday, taken to jail and appeared for a hearing Thursday, now facing an abduction charge as a result of prosecutors filing a bill of information accusing him of restraining the liberty of another person, creating the risk of physical harm or placing the victim in fear in September 2017.

Warren police said they began an investigation into prostitution at the home after a woman told them in January 2017 Blasco held her against her will and forced her to engage in prostitution.

It is not known whether that is the same woman Blasco has now admitted to abducting in September 2017.

Diane Barber, the assistant prosecutor working on the case, could not be reached late Friday to comment.

City officials boarded up the house Sept. 18, 2017, after obtaining a court order declaring the home a nuisance. Blasco agreed in June before Judge Andrew Logan that the home would remain boarded up for at least a year because of alleged prostitution, human trafficking and illegal drug activity.