A federal grand jury yesterday indicted a man on multiple counts of transporting women and girls between Honolulu and the Mainland as part of a prostitution ring.

Robert L. Young was charged with 21 felony counts, including sex trafficking of children for prostitution, transporting women to engage in prostitution, distribution of child pornography, money laundering and using an interstate facility to aid a racketeering operation.

Young also was indicted on similar charges in Michigan, where many of the women and girls were sent.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Wes Porter, who is prosecuting the case, declined to comment yesterday. He said Young is not a Hawai'i resident, but declined to say where Young resides.

Young also goes by the aliases "Lawrence Benjamin," "Ronald McCree," "Blue Diamond," and "Blue," according to the indictment.

From November 2003 to July 2005, Young is accused of recruiting and forcing at least two girls and eight women "to engage in a commercial sex act," the indictment said. The females were sent to Detroit, Mich., and, in at least two cases, to Chicago, to take part in the prostitution business.

The indictment also accuses Young of distributing computer images of one of the girls engaging in sexual activity.

Young could not be reached for comment.

Young is the third man in the past two weeks accused of forcing a minor into prostitution.

Jason Smith, 22, has been charged in state court of kidnapping a 15-year-old girl and sexually assaulting her repeatedly and forcing her to engage in prostitution. He is being held on $150,000 bail.

Junior Djuan Martzes, Smith's friend, also has been charged with first-degree sexual assault and promoting prostitution in connection with the case. Bail for Martzes, 24, was set at $30,000.

Reach Curtis Lum at culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.