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Man gets 15 years in prison for ‘heinous’ sex trafficking from Mass. and Cass, downtown Boston
"Jonathan Vaughan will now pay a very heavy price for exploiting his victims’ vulnerabilities and forcing them to sell their bodies for his financial gain," US Attorney Joshua Levy said.
A Boston man was sentenced to 15 years in prison for sex trafficking and cocaine charges, federal prosecutors said on Thursday.
Jonathan Vaughan, 38, “systematically” preyed on women in the Boston area and Cape Cod beginning in 2019, United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy’s office said in a statement. Vaughan, who also went by “Ason,” recruited and trafficked three female victims, forcing them to engage in commercial sex acts, prosecutors said. In addition, court records said, Vaughan would deal cocaine and had some on him during his arrest in 2021.
Between spring of 2021 to his arrest in October of that same year, prosecutors said, Vaughan would use a tent at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, Mass. and Cass, with the intention of distributing drugs and trafficking women. He would let his victims stay in the tent and bring “dates” back with them, after which he would receive the proceeds of the commercial sex acts, Levy’s office said.
Jonathan Vaughan forced women to solicit sex for money on Mass. and Cass, Downtown Crossing
Vaughan would use Mass. and Cass, Downtown Crossing, and sometimes Facebook to recruit victims, court documents show. Prosecutors said he would bring victims to hotels in Boston, Chelsea, Saugus, and Cape Cod. In addition, Levy’s office said, he brought victims to Queens and Manhattan in New York.
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Special Agent for Homeland Security Investigations Michael J. Krol said Vaughan would use “physical violence and coercion” to force his victims to solicit themselves on Mass. and Cass and in Chelsea.
“Today’s sentence holds Vaughn accountable for these heinous crimes against these victims,” Krol said in the statement. “We hope that this severe sentence will bring some peace to those he victimized as they continue to heal.”
Defendant glorified status as a ‘pimp’
Vaughan would refer to himself as a “pimp,” and has a tattoo across his chest that reads “Pimp or Die,” the statement said. Levy’s office said Vaughan also wrote music describing and glorifying being a pimp and objectifying women.
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“Jonathan Vaughan will now pay a very heavy price for exploiting his victims’ vulnerabilities and forcing them to sell their bodies for his financial gain,” Levy said in the statement.
Vaughan pleaded guilty to three counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud and coercion, two counts of transportation of an individual for purposes of prostitution, and one count of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in September of 2024, court records show. He was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by five years of supervised release.
Representation for Vaughan did not immediately relpy to a request for comment.
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