Salon Owner's Trial Set for Jury

The owner of the Harvard Square hair salon About Hair, charged with rape and running a prostitution ring out of his store, appeared in Cambridge District Court on Friday for a pre-trial hearing in a preface to a trial set to begin this summer.

Judge George Sprague set a timeline for the trial at yesterday’s hearing, scheduling the discovery motions—the next date Purdy is due in court—for July 27, according to Middlesex District Attorney (D.A.) spokeswoman Emily LaGrassa.

Duncan W. Purdy, 52, who is also charged with indecent assault and battery of a person over 14 years old, has pled not guilty to all charges.

Purdy was first arrested in early October of last year after an undercover sting operation by the Cambridge Police Department and Somerville Police Department alleged that he was running a prostitution ring out of his salon and antique store on Arrow Street.

He was indicted by a Middlesex grand jury in December on charges of maintaining a house of prostitution and deriving support from a house of prostitution.

In March, Purdy was indicted on new charges that he allegedly raped a then-19-year-old customer in March 2004.

The woman claims that he touched her “inappropriately and raped her” during a scheduled massage, according to a Middlesex D.A. press release.

Purdy told The Crimson in March, after his indictment for the additional charge of rape, that he was not guilty.

“I am not guilty of the charges,” he said. “I’ve been here for 20 years, and my whole life has been helping people. I have basically been a servant. I cut people’s hair.”

—Staff writer Reed B. Rayman can be reached at rrayman@fas.harvard.edu.