State grand jury indicts two men on pimping charges

An alleged Boston pimp who police say preyed on drugaddicted young women was indicted yesterday by a statewide grand jury on charges of human trafficking, rape and witness intimidation.

Hendricks Mario Berdet, 31, will be arraigned in Suffolk, Middlesex, Hampden and Norfolk counties on later dates, according to the attorney general’s office.

“Ending the sexual exploitation of human beings is one of my office’s highest priorities,” said Attorney General Maura Healey. “In the midst of a deadly and widespread opioid epidemic, we continue to find individuals preying upon those struggling with addiction.”

David Rivera, 27, also was indicted for allegedly transporting the women for commercial sex.

Berdet, who was arrested in February, is accused of pressuring the women to sell their bodies and forcing them to earn up to $1,500 a night.

He’d keep the money for himself and give them drugs that included heroin and cocaine, officials said. One alleged victim, authorities have said, was recruited while getting treatment for a heroin addiction.

Berdet posted ads for sex on websites and pimped out the young women in hotels and homes from Boston to Springfield, authorities said. The Herald recently ran a special report on the opiate crisis and sex trafficking in Massachusetts — and Berdet’s case is an example of heroin’s horrible human wrath.