Police Arrest Brookline Man Wanted in Prostitution, Rape Case

Police have arrested a Brookline man wanted for allegedly bringing a special-needs woman to Chelsea to have sex with a string of men in exchange for drug money.

Police had searched the apartment of Lawrence Allan Bloom, 53, on July 15, but were unable to locate him until he returned home Monday, July 19. Bloom was arrested without incident and brought to the Brookline police station around 5:45 p.m.

Police are seeking to charge Bloom with deriving support from a prostitute, allowing his premises to be used for prostitution, and distribution of class B and D substances. He was expected to be arraigned this morning, July 20.

Police also plan to charge Bloom's alleged accomplice, a 58-year-old Chelsea man named Rafael Gonzalez, with deriving support from a prostitute, distribution of a class B substance, and rape.

Police say Bloom started inviting the victim, a 38-year-old woman with special needs who lives in a Brookline group home, over to his apartment at 90 Longwood Ave. to smoke crack cocaine earlier this year. The victim reportedly told police that Bloom would often ask her to have sex with him in exchange for drugs.

On June 24, police say Bloom and Gonzalez, who also goes by "Primo," took the victim Gonzalez's Chelsea apartment to get "better quality" crack, but instead brought over five to 10 men to have intercourse and oral sex with the victim over the course of the following day. Throughout the ordeal, Gonzalez allegedly kept watch over the woman "to make sure she did everything right," according to Brookline Police Department reports.

The victim was reported missing when she did not return home to her assisted living apartment in Brookline on June 25, but was reportedly found walking home with Bloom and Gonzalez the following day.