The Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office has secured guilty verdicts against four defendants in connection with their operation of a sex trafficking ring in the Boston area. Following a five-week trial, a jury in Suffolk Superior Court convicted Cristina Lasso, 52, of Saugus; Jose Deblas, 38, of Lynn; Marlon Nagano, 43, of East Boston; and Jorge Lasso, 60, of Chelsea for operating 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 rotated through the brothels on a weekly basis, and dozens of customers paid the defendants to have sex with the women on a daily basis. 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.
Investigators and prosecutors used vast amounts of 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 Servitude, 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.
The defendants are scheduled to be sentenced in Suffolk Superior Court on May 2 at 9 a.m.
This matter was prosecuted by Assistant Attorney General Amanda Paull of the AGO’s Human Trafficking Division and Assistant Attorney General Michael Anderson of the AGO’s Environmental Crimes Strike Force, with valuable assistance provided by Deputy Chief Edith Ayuso of the AGO’s Victim Services Division, Financial Investigator Sean Nagle of the AGO’s Financial Investigations Division, Paralegal Kasey Mazzone of the Human Trafficking Division, Administrative Assistant Henry Stiepleman of the Environmental Crimes Strike Force, Analysts Jobal Thomas, Chris Kelly, Steve Devlin, and Paul Melaragni of the Digital Evidence Lab, and Massachusetts State Police Troopers assigned to the AGO.
Original source can be found here.