A Massachusetts couple has admitted to trafficking charges related to organizing sex parties across Central Massachusetts hotels, without giving the promised pay to the women who participated, according to reports from Boston.com and MassLive. Jon Lowell and Courtney Nicholopoulos entered guilty pleas to conspiracy to traffic persons for sexual servitude, while Lowell also pled guilty to paying for sexual acts.
Worcester Superior Court heard how Lowell, now with a shaved head due to advanced colon cancer, and Nicholopoulos, were arrested back in July 2015 after police sent an undercover officer to an advertised sex party at the Holiday Inn Express in Auburn, the raid led to 29 arrests and the couple was eventually arraigned in June 2016. The pair lured the women with hefty sums, including offers of $5,000 to $12,000, for sexual performances yet the duo failed to pay them after the sordid affairs, moreover, none of the women, including those struggling financially, saw a cent of the funds as Lowell kept the proceeds for himself.
Lowell, represented in court, was handed a sentence of three years probation and six months home confinement equipped with GPS tracking, and an order to pay $48,000 in restitution to the unpaid victims of which he has already paid $24,000; Nicholopoulos received two years probation, as reported by the Boston.com. Detailed in a search warrant by Worcester police, parties were also held in Worcester, Billerica, Northborough, Westminster, and the couple advertised events as "swingers" or "gangbang" parties.
The defense painted a troubled background for Lowell, who "was exposed to swinger parties and sex from a young age", his lawyer said according to MassLive; after his divorce, he dove deeper into the swinger party lifestyle but has since seen a psychotherapist and cared for his ailing mother. Nicholopoulos was deemed "much less culpable" by her attorney in the nefarious enterprise, despite the fact these parties offered women payments between $5,000 to $12,000 to engage in sex acts with multiple men, she was held to a lesser degree of responsibility.
