BOSTON — Four people have been convicted of running brothels that rotated women from Central and South America in a sex trafficking ring in the Boston area, the Attorney General’s Office announced Wednesday.
Cristina Lasso, 52, of Saugus; Jose Deblas, 38, of Lynn; Marlon Nagano, 43, of East Boston; and Jorge Lasso, 60, of Chelsea were convicted by jury after a five-week trial in Suffolk Superior Court, according to the Attorney General’s Office. They ran four residential brothels in East Boston, Chelsea, and Lynn from October 2018 to July 2019.
According to the evidence presented at trial, women from Central and South America were brought through the brothels on a weekly basis, and dozens of customers paid Cristina and Jorge Lasso, Deblas, and Nagano to have sex with the women on a daily basis.
Cristina Lasso was the head of the commercial sex ring, prosecutors said. 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.
Investigators and prosecutors used physical evidence seized from the brothels, pole camera surveillance footage, documentary evidence, recorded interviews, and digital evidence to identify and convict the defendants.
Cristina Lasso was found guilty of four counts of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, four counts of maintaining a house of prostitution, four counts of keeping a house of ill fame, and one count of money laundering.
Jose Deblas was found guilty of one count of trafficking persons for sexual srvitude, two counts of maintaining a house of prostitution, two counts of keeping a house of ill fame, and one count of money laundering.
Marlon Nagano was found guilty of one count of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, one count of maintaining a house of prostitution, two counts of keeping a house of ill fame, and one count of money laundering.
Jorge Lasso was found guilty of one count of trafficking persons for sexual servitude and one count of money laundering.
All four are scheduled to be sentenced in Suffolk Superior Court on May 2.
News of the guilty verdicts came days after the appointment “booker” involved in another, high-profile interstate commercial sex ring in greater Boston and Virginia was sentenced to federal prison. Authorities said that commercial sex ring catered to “wealthy and well-connected clientele.”
Last month, court hearings were held in Cambridge for dozens of “wealthy and well-connected” men accused of being customers of the interstate commercial sex ring.
Among the accused sex buyers in that ring are Cambridge City Councilor Paul Toner, former Massachusetts General Hospital oncologist Dr. James Cusack Jr. and Dr. Mitchell Rubenstein of Chestnut Hill, who is on leave from his position as Executive Vice Chair for the Department of Dermatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates as more information becomes available.
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