Boston Man Sentenced For Sex Trafficking Women Out Of A Tent
Sunday, December 22, 2024, 4:20 P.M. ET. 3 Minute Read, By Art Fletcher: Englebrook Independent News,
BOSTON, MA.- On Thursday, a 38-year-old Boston, Massachusetts, pimp who sex-trafficked women out of a tent at the intersection of Massachusettes Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard on the “Methadone Mile” in the City of Boston learned instead of operating out of tent and preying on women’s drug addictions, he will be spending the next 15 years of his life in federal prison for his actions.
On Thursday, December 19, 2024, Jonathan Vaughan, also known as “Ason,” 38, of Boston, Massachusetts, appeared in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts and was sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge Richard G. Stearns to 180 months in federal prison, to be immediately followed by five years of supervised release for his previously entered guilty pleas to federal sex trafficking and narcotics offenses.
In September of this year, Vaughan appeared before Judge Stearns and 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.
According To The U.S. Attorney’s Office
According to U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy and charging information filed with the court, Vaughan operated out of a tent, systematically preying on women dating back to at least 2019 in the Boston area and Cape Cod. Some of the women he transported from Massachusetts to other states, including New York, for the commercial sex trade. Vaughan referred to himself as “Ason The Pimp” and had a tattoo across his chest that read “Pimp Or Die” and wrote music in which he glorified his work as a pimp and the objectification of women.
From at least June 2019 through October 2021, Vaughan recruited and trafficked three female victims to engage in commercial sex acts and transported two of the victims for the purpose of prostitution to another state. At the time of his arrest on state charges, on October 13, 2021, Vaughan possessed fifteen bags of cocaine intended for distribution to drug addicts.
From late spring or early summer of 2021, when he was taken into custody on state charges, Vaughan operated out of a tent at Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard, also known as the “Methadone Mile” or “Recovery Road.” During that time, Vaughan sold drugs and recruited and sex-trafficked women. Vaughan allowed his sex trafficking victims to stay and bring dates back to his tent so long as he received the money from the sex acts.
Vaughan Trafficked Women To Manhattan, New York
Vaughan recruited women in and around Mass and Cass and Downtown Crossing, as well as on the internet, including over Facebook. Vaughan also brought his victims to hotels in Boston, Chelsea, Saugus, and Cape Cod, as well as Queens and Manhattan, New York. Vaughan forced at least two of his female victims to solicit themselves outdoors by walking “The Track” in areas such as Mass and Cass, Broadway in Chelsea, and in and around Times Square in Manhattan, New York.
Dating back to 2019, Vaughan engaged in physical and sexual violence against his victims to manipulate them and to have power over them.
“Jonathan Vaughan will pay a very heavy price for exploiting his victims’ vulnerabilities and using force for them to sell their bodies for his financial gain,” said U.S. Attorney Joshua S. Levy. “This office and our federal and local partners are putting substantial resources into combatting the dehumanizing sex trafficking industry, and this lengthy sentence is a message to everyone involved in preying on women that there are very serious consequences to this conduct.”
