Man with long record faces 15 years in prison for running a sex and drugs tent at Mass and Cass

A man who ran a prostitution-and-cocaine tent at Mass and Cass pleaded guilty today to several federal counts that, if a judge agrees, will send him away for 15 years - followed by five more years of probation, the US Attorney's office reports.

Jonathan "Ason" Vaughan, 37, formally 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. US District Court Judge Richard Stearns scheduled sentencing for Dec. 19.

Vaughan was already under investigation by Homeland Security for trafficking women here, on the Cape and in New York when Boston Police arrested him on Oct. 13, 2021 at Mass and Cass on charges of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and the trafficking of one specific woman - in a tent he maintained in the growing encampment there.

According to an affidavit by a Homeland Security agent, Vaughan had been trafficking women since at least 2015 and had used the Mass and Cass tent as a place for some of the women to stay - as long as they turned enough tricks to meet his daily cash quota.

I am aware that VAUGHAN recruited his victims in person, including in Downtown Crossing and in and around Mass. and Cass in Boston. VAUGHAN also recruited women over the internet, particularly over Facebook. According to records received from Facebook, VAUGHAN has been sending Facebook messages to women as a method of recruitment dating back to at least 2015. VAUGHAN recruited victims to work for him and to engage in commercial sex acts with paying customers with promises of a better life, including, financial stability, nice hotels and clothes, shelter (in his tent or hotels) and drugs to satiate addictions. In fact, VAUGHAN had available for his victims "brown" (heroin or fentanyl) and "hard" (crack cocaine).

Vaughan, who would threaten violence against women who disobeyed him, also solicited for business online:

VAUGHAN brought his victims to hotels, many of which he booked in person or online per records reviewed from Priceline.com. These hotels were in locations that included Boston, Chelsea, Saugus, the Cape, and Queens and Manhattan, New York. Once there, VAUGHAN had his victims perform "dates" both as in-calls at the hotel or out-calls at a location chosen by the client. VAUGHAN also forced at least two of his victims to solicit themselves outdoors, by walking "the track" in areas such as Mass. and Cass in Boston, Broadway in Chelsea, and in and around Times Square in Manhattan. VAUGHAN set financial targets for his sex trafficking victims to meet and threatened them not to return to him if they did not meet those quotas on a given night.

According to one filing by federal prosecutors, Vaughan continued to sell access to women even after his arrest - with the help of his brother, whom prosecutors say Vaughan let log onto his Facebook page so that he could message women he was trying to get to work for him. But, prosecutors added:

Perhaps, the most egregious conduct that the defendant has engaged in while in pretrial custody on federal sex trafficking charges are the messages the defendant sent to women in an attempt to recruit and groom them to engage in commercial sex for a fee at his direction. ("I need u reaching out handling ya zaddys bizness and staying committed just the way you are. I def need you to get a phone and put a certain number on it by using a simple mobile phone I got a lot of $$$ calling it so I need you making moves for me and ima put you in every position I can for you to progress in life. I def need you to get a phone and put a certain number on it by using a simple mobile phone I got a lot of $$$ calling it so I need you making moves for me and ima put you in every position I can for you to progress in life.")

The affidavit, written two years ago, says Vaughan's criminal record dates to at least 2005:

VAUGHAN is 35 years old with twenty-two adult arraignments. Specifically, in February 2020, VAUGHAN was convicted of assault with a dangerous weapon and two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon (all to wit: a firearm) and various firearm charges, including possession of a loaded firearm, after an arrest in September 2019. He received a two-year house of correction sentence with probation from and after his release from custody. He was on probation out of Chelsea District Court for the February 2020 conviction during his commission of the crimes that are the subject of the instant federal indictment. In fact, the phone number VAUGHAN provided to the probation department as his own was the same number attached to sex-for-fee advertisements depicting victims of VAUGHAN's sex trafficking.

VAUGHAN's other convictions include the following: aggravated assault and battery, assault and battery on a person over sixty and assault and battery on a police officer for which he served four years (Barnstable Superior, 2015); possession with intent to distribute heroin, assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest, for which he served one year (Chelsea District 2013); receiving stolen motor vehicle, for which he served six months (Boston Municipal Court, Central Division, 2011); possession with intent to distribute marijuana and bribery of a public employee for which he served six months of a two year sentence (Boston Municipal Court, Central Division, 2009); assault and battery on a public employee for which he served six months (Boston Municipal Court, Central Division, 2007); distribution and possession with intent to distribute a class B substance for which he served two years (Boston Municipal Court, Central Division, 2005); and, possession with intent to distribute a class B substance for which he served two years (Boston Municipal Court, Central Division 2005). VAUGHAN appears to be a career offender.

In December, 2012, Vaughan caught a break when he was released from a 2 1/2-year drug sentence because the evidence in his case had been handled by disgraced state chemist Annie Dookhan.

Less than a month later, however, he was arrested in Chelsea on new charges after police spotted him drinking a Natty Ice in a McDonald's and, as officers escorted him out, he yelled "I just got out on Annie Dookhan and I ain’t going back to jail" and tried to break away from the cops, who instead arrested him and found crack on him during booking for charges of assault and battery on a police officer and resisting arrest.

Plea deal with prosecutors (3.2M PDF).
Filing by prosecutors with more details on his activities (231k PDF).