BOSTON — A Boston woman on probation for a 2022 stabbing has been charged with sex trafficking a 15-year-old girl, according to a press release issued May 23, 2025, by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
Shakera Pina, also known as “Stacks,” 29, faces one count of sex trafficking of a minor. She is currently in state custody on related charges and is expected to appear in federal court in Boston at a later date.
According to court filings, on April 7, 2025, investigators discovered online advertisements offering commercial sex with a 15-year-old girl who had previously been reported missing. Two days later, as part of a sting operation, undercover officers responded to the ad and arranged a hotel meeting under the guise of a sex buyer.
At the hotel, agents located a different 15‑year‑old victim whose phone allegedly contained texts from Pina instructing her on how to interact with sex buyers and what to do with the proceeds. Pina was found waiting in a vehicle in the parking lot, the filing states.
It is alleged that when officers approached Pina in the parking lot with flashing emergency lights, she allegedly tried to drive off, ignored commands to open her door and appeared to be manipulating her phone, allegedly in an attempt to delete evidence from her phone. Officers broke the driver’s side window, detained her and recovered two cell phones she reportedly hurled to the ground.
At the time of her arrest, Pina was on probation for a December 2022 assault in which she stabbed another woman multiple times in the abdomen and thigh, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts. The girl featured in the original online ads was later found and told investigators Pina had trafficked her as well.
The charge of trafficking a minor carries a mandatory minimum of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison, along with at least five years of supervised release and a potential fine of up to $250,000.
The FBI’s Boston Division, State Police, Boston Police, and the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office assisted in the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Riley, of the Human Trafficking & Civil Rights Unit is prosecuting the case.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts encourages anyone experiencing commercial sex trafficking or child exploitation—or anyone who knows someone who is—to contact them at USAMA.VictimAssistance@usdoj.gov.
