A Massachusetts man was sentenced to six years in prison after he was found guilty of sex trafficking. After being released in 2021, authorities said he “almost immediately” returned to sex trafficking.
Marvin Pompilus, 39, was charged with one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion. He was arrested Tuesday.
Pompilus was first arrested and charged with 18 counts of trafficking of persons for sexual servitude and 12 counts of deriving support from prostitution in 2015.
At the time officials said he targeted and recruited multiple women over a two-year period, and set them up to provide sexual services at hotels and other places in Boston, Braintree, Randolph and Hyannis, according to a 2015 press release from Attorney General Maura Healey.
Healey said that Pompilus kept all the money from their sexual encounters for himself and paid the women in drugs.
“We allege that this defendant targeted and exploited women and arranged for them to provide sexual services in three different counties for his own profit,” Healey said. “Our office is committed to prosecuting human traffickers who exploit and abuse others for their own gain.”
The attorney general’s office sought a sentence of 12 to 15 years in prison. Instead, Pompilus was sentenced to serve six to six and a half years in prison in 2018.
He was released from prison four years later in October 2021.
“Upon his release after a six-year prison sentence on sex trafficking charges, it is alleged that Mr. Pompilus almost immediately returned to targeting and exploiting vulnerable victims to line his own pocket — regularly using violence and drugs to maintain control,” said acting United States Attorney Joshua S. Levy.
Officials said Pompilus posed as a sex buyer and responded to online advertisements for commercial sex. But instead, Pompilus would use that time to recruit the women.
He’d use physical violence, threats and drugs to force the women to participate in the acts, officials said. He’d then collect the money.
The women were physically beaten regularly, Levy’s office said, adding that the women wouldn’t be allowed to get medical treatment.
“At times, Pompilus manually strangled the victim and on one occasion, pointed a gun in the victim’s face,” Levy’s office said. “If the victim disobeyed any of the rules that Pompilus set for her, Pompilus would allegedly become physically violent or withhold drugs from the victim until she started to experience the physical symptoms of withdrawal.”
The charge of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion provides for a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years and up to life in prison, at least five years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. Sentences are imposed by a federal district court judge based upon the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and statutes which govern the determination of a sentence in a criminal case.
Pompilus’ next hearing is scheduled for Nov. 28.
