UPDATE: Jury clears Lowell man of human trafficking charges

LOWELL — A Lowell Superior Court jury Monday afternoon found a Lowell man not guilty on several human trafficking charges.

Harold Jack Lucas, 62, formerly of 6 Bowers St., Lowell, was on trial on three counts of trafficking a person for sexual servitude and one count of deriving support from prostitution. Another count of deriving support from prostitution and distribution of a Class B substance were dropped by prosecutors in January.

The jury got the case Monday morning.

Lucas’ attorney Thomas Combs said “I think it was the right verdict based on the evidence the jury heard in court.”

He declined to comment further.

A spokesman for Attorney General Maura Healey could not be immediately be reached for comment.

Lucas was accused of giving small amounts of fentanyl to prostitutes to get them to meet clients on his behalf in both Lowell and Atlantic City, N.J., in late 2015 and early 2016.

Prosecutors alleged Lucas gave the women small amounts of the highly-addictive drug as they worked the streets, and that he demanded they give all the money they earned to him.

As the women continued to work each day, Lucas allegedly gave them additional doses of fentanyl to keep them from getting “dope sick,” said Assistant Attorney General Gina Kwon.

Kwon also alleges that Lucas set quotas for the women and demanded they have at least a minimum of number of sexual encounters each night.

Prosecutors allege two women were victimized by Lucas’ scheme, while a third was approached by Lucas but declined to work with him.

But Combs asked the jury if the prosecution’s case, and the testimony of those women, makes sense.

One victim testified she had battled addiction for over two decades, and she was addicted to both cocaine and heroin.

Combs asked why a woman who had been addicted to heroin for so long would need Lucas to supply her with the drug, as she testified at trial.

“Why would she do that when she could find as much as heroin as she wants on the street,” Combs asked.

Combs also cited the woman’s lengthy history of prostitution as he asked the jury why the alleged victim would need Lucas’ help to sell herself for sexual activity.

“She knows how to do that on her own,” Combs said. “Why would she need help?”

Combs suggested to the jury that both of the alleged victims who testified were simply interested in accepting immunity deals that would enable them to escape punishment for their own legal troubles in district court.

“It just doesn’t make sense that this took place the way the commonwealth wants you to believe,” Combs told jurors.

Combs noted that one of the alleged victims created her own postings on Backpage.com in an effort to find clients in Atlantic City, even as she claimed it was Lucas he arranged for her to go there to work.

Combs also noted that the alleged victim’s daughter had a cheerleading event in Atlantic City at the time she visited there, allegedly to work for Lucas.

Kwon said Lucas took advantage of the fact that one of the alleged victims had recently gotten out of rehab when he approached her and promised that if she worked for him “you’ll never be dope sick again.”

He would then supply her with small amounts of heroin and food as she worked the streets, while pocketing most of the profits himself, according to Kwon, who said the alleged victim’s history does not change Lucas’ guilt.

“She’s tough and she’s bad, that’s who she is,” Kwon said. “But who she is doesn’t make Mr. Lucas any less guilty of human trafficking.”

Combs admitted that his client, who has a 22-page criminal record that dates back to 1973, isn’t an upstanding citizen either, but said that doesn’t mean he actually trafficked women for sexual purposes.

“I’m not saying Mr. Lucas is an angel,” Combs said. “You’ve heard about a side of Lowell that remains largely unseen.”

Follow Robert Mills on Twitter @Robert_Mills