Four found guilty of operating Boston-area sex trafficking ring
Four people have been found guilty of operating a Boston-area sex trafficking ring that trafficked Central and South American women in four residential brothels, the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office announced Tuesday.
Following a five-week trial, a Suffolk County Superior Court jury convicted 52-year-old Saugus resident Cristina Lasso, 38-year-old Lynn resident Jose Deblas, 43-year-old East Boston resident Marlon Nagano and 60-year-old Chelsea resident Jorge Lasso of charges related to operating four residential brothels, the attorney general's office said in a press release. The brothels were located in East Boston, Chelsea and Lynn and were in operation from October 2018 to July 2019.
Women from Central and South America were rotated through the brothels on a weekly basis, and dozens of customers paid the defendants to have sex with the women each day, the attorney general's office said. Cristina Lasso was the head of the organization, and Jorge Lasso, Deblas and Nagano assisted her by recruiting victims, advertising sexual services, setting up appointments for sexual encounters, transporting women to and from the brothels and facilitating the exchange of money.
Cristina Lasso was found guilty of four counts of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, maintaining a house of prostitution, keeping a house of ill fame and one count of money laundering, the attorney general's office said. Deblas was found guilty of one count of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, two counts of maintaining a house of prostitution, two counts of keeping a house of ill fame and one count of money laundering.
Nagano was found guilty of one count of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, maintaining a house of prostitution and money laundering and two counts of keeping a house of ill fame, the attorney general's office said. Jorge Lasso was found guilty of one count of trafficking persons for sexual servitude and money laundering.
The four defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in Suffolk Superior Court on May 2.
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