Jail for married man who posed as a pimp to get discounted sexual services from social escorts

SINGAPORE — A 42-year-old man decided to pose as a pimp to obtain free or discounted sexual services from two social escorts under the guise of putting them through a "trial" or "interview".

Chen Zelin, who is married with a young child, also took intimate pictures of his girlfriend by threatening to reveal their text conversations, which were of a sexual nature.

The Singaporean then used the photos to get her to become his "sex slave".

On Tuesday (April 16), he was sentenced to two years and eight months' jail after pleading guilty to one count of threatening to distribute an intimate image and two counts of cheating by impersonation.

Due to a gag order protecting their identities, the victims cannot be named.

TRIAL, INTERVIEW REQUIRED

In 2020, Chen posted an advertisement on classified page Locanto posing as an agent for social escort services, which prompted two women to contact him. Court documents did not state when he posted the advertisement.

In October 2020, a 40-year-old woman saw Chen's advertisement and contacted him.

During their conversation, Chen claimed he was able to get women employed at his "agency" 10 clients a week from the dark web. 

He asked to fix a date for a "trial" of her sexual services and she agreed to charge him S$60 for her services, instead of her usual rate of S$350 to S$450, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) June Ngian.

She then had sex with Chen on Oct 14, 2020 at a hotel along Upper Serangoon Road.

"Following this encounter, the first victim did not hear from the accused until April 4, 2021, when the accused contacted her again via Telegram to inform the victim that he was 'still doing' the business of providing clients for social escorts," said DPP Ngian.

He then said her services were not "up to (his) expectations" and asked if she would provide him a second trial. 

However, as agents would not typically ask for a second trial, the woman realised Chen was unlikely to be an agent. She then stopped communicating with him.

Sometime in 2021, a 20-year-old, who worked as a social escort to pay her debts after having been a victim of scams, approached Chen on Telegram after seeing his advertisement.

He told her he would conduct an interview to see if she had "the skills to please customers" and that he would teach her these skills as well. 

They met at the same hotel along Upper Serangoon Road and she performed several sexual acts on him.

Chen told her later that she needed to lose weight and that she needed "training sessions" before she could service clients.

Court documents did not state if he provided these sessions.

THREATENED TO MAKE GIRLFRIEND HIS SEX SLAVE

Sometime in June 2021, a 34-year-old Chinese national posted on a mobile application that she was looking for a house to rent and a boyfriend. Court documents did not state which app she used.

Chen reached out to the woman a week later and they started dating on July 8 that year. 

A few weeks later, while chatting over WhatsApp, Chen asked her to choose between him taking a video of her performing a sex act, or having sex without protection.

She chose the latter as she "felt threatened" by the idea of Chen filming her.

Three days later, Chen threatened that he would show her employer their sex-related conversations if she did not allow him to take sexual videos and photographs of her.

Fearing her colleagues and employer might see the messages, she complied with his request to take several intimate pictures, including one that revealed her passport information.

A day later, Chen sent the photos to the woman over WhatsApp, stating that she was a "sex slave" with "no rights". He then threatened to leak the images unless she "served" him.

He repeated these threats again on Aug 2, 2021. Feeling distressed, the woman eventually made a police report against him that same day. 

Court documents did not state how the police found out about Chen's actions against the two social escorts.

LOWLY METHODS OF OBTAINING PERSONAL GAIN: DPP

DPP Ngian asked for a total sentence of 38 to 46 months' jail.

This comprises six to eight months' jail for threatening to distribute intimate images, and 16 to 19 months' jail for each charge of cheating by personation.

She said that Chen had procured images from his girlfriend by making threats which he knew would work as "the victim had explicitly told him that she would lose her job" if their sex-related conversations were revealed.

DPP Ngian added that the three victims had been subject to Chen's "self-serving practices and lowly methods of obtaining personal gain or sexual gratification with little regard or respect for their personhood".

For threatening to distribute an intimate image, Chen faced up to five years' jail, fine, caning or any combination of the three punishments.

For cheating by personation, Chen faced up to five years' jail, a fine or both.