Sex Trafficker Sentenced to Federal Prison

PROVIDENCE – Rene Anthony Laureano, 31, of Roxbury, MA, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Providence today to 24 months in federal prison for trafficking a Massachusetts female to Rhode Island for the purpose of prostitution.  

At sentencing, U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., also ordered Laureano to serve 3 years supervised release upon completion of his term of imprisonment. Laureano pleaded guilty on March 7, 2017, to transportation with the intent to prostitute.

Both the government and the defense recommended to the court a sentence of 60 months incarceration. The U.S. Sentencing Guideline imprisonment range in this matter is 46 to 57 months.

Laureano’s sentence is announced by Acting United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch; Colonel Ann C. Assumpico, Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police; and Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Boston Division.

At time of his guilty plea, Laureano admitted to the court that between January 2015 and March 2016, he met a female he knew to be engaged in prostitution and did aid and abet her in carrying out that endeavor by, among other things, driving her from Massachusetts to appointments with customers in Rhode Island, and by profiting directly and indirectly from her activity.

Laureano has been detained in federal custody since his arrest on May 23, 2016.  A codefendant in this matter, Kedwin Vargas, 26, of Roxbury, MA, arrested on May 19, 2016, pleaded guilty on December 8, 2016,  to transportation with the intent to prostitute. Vargas is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Court Judge John J. McConnell, Jr., on June 30, 2017.

The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney William J. Ferland.

The matter was investigated by the Rhode Island State Police and the FBI. Acting United States Attorney Stephen G. Dambruch thanks the Warwick, R.I., and Boston Police Departments for their assistance in the investigation.

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