Mass. teen worked with Maryland man to sex traffic minors, officials say

Yahoo

15-05-2025

A Massachusetts teenager is facing charges after officials said he worked with a 44-year-old Maryland man to sex traffic minors.
Darren Zaldivar, 19, of Ludlow, was indicted and charged with three counts of conspiracy to engage in sex trafficking of a minor and two counts of transporting an individual with intent the individual engage in propitiation, according to court documents. He was arrested May 13.
On April 16, David Kaufman, 44, was arrested on an indictment charging him with one count of knowingly persuading, inducing, enticing and coercing an individual to travel in interstate commerce to engage in prostitution and aiding and abetting.
There were at least four Western Massachusetts teenagers between the ages of 14-17 involved and one teenager from Connecticut.
They are all friends or former friends with a witness, court documents state. Four of the teenagers were connected to Kaufman on Snapchat.
Kaufman would pay the teenagers for child sexual abuse material, officials said. He'd coerce and entice some of them to travel to his penthouse condominium at the Four Seasons in Baltimore to engage in sexual acts with him, which he video recorded. Officials said Zaldivar conspired with Kaufman in the sex trafficking of a minor victim in 2024. Zaldivar also transported the minor victim with the intent that the victim engage in commercial sex.
Officials said they discovered electronic transfers of money from Kaufman to the teenagers. He also paid for plane tickets, a Louis Vuitton bag and shoes.
After Kaufman connected with a 19-year-old on Snapchat, court documents state they settled on $10,000 for a video, with partial payment up front and the rest later. A $5,000 CashApp transaction around the same time in 2023 was sent from Kaufman's account to an account using the name 'Joseph Smith.' In July 2023, and additional $5,000 was transferred on CashApp from Kaufman to 'Joseph Smith.'
Overall, financial records indicate that Kaufman transferred over $80,000 to accounts in the 19-year-old's name.
Officials said he also sent at least $6,400 to a 16-year-old and over $1,200 to a 14-year-old in exchange for photos or videos.
One of the times, when an 18-year-old didn't want to engage in the sexual acts, Kaufman got upset, court documents state. Kaufman said he experienced childhood trauma, had previously engaged in self-harm and that he had suicidal ideations. Kaufman then showed the teenager photos of himself at the emergency room with his arm cut all the way up to his shoulder to 'prove that he had harmed himself before,' court documents state.
Kaufman then told the teenager that he was going to cut himself or jump off his balcony if the teen didn't do as Kaufman wanted, court documents state.
He later paid the 18-year-old with cash because 'he was scared of the government seeing that he was sending money to a lot of people electronically,' court documents read.
'Kaufman used flights, money, gifts, drugs, and alcohol to get what he wanted from this vulnerable young man ...,' court documents state. 'These were not purely consensual commercial sex transactions. This was a man in his 40s who, working with a 17-year-old, used drugs, money, emotional manipulation, and other tactics to persuade and entice an 18-year-old to travel to engage in sex acts that he did not want to engage in.'
A jury trial for Kaufman is scheduled for July 7.
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Read the original article on MassLive.