Former Brockton Resident Indicted On Sex Trafficking Charges

BROCKTON, MA — A federal grand jury indicted a former Brockton resident on sex trafficking charges on Thursday. The indictment alleges that Matthew Engram, 32, forced three victims to travel from Brockton to as far away as Florida to participate in prostitution over a span of six years.

Engram is accused of advertising the prostitution on websites, through text messages and organizing prostitution dates at hotel rooms he reserved. He was indicted on two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, one count of attempted sex trafficking, two counts of transportation of an individual for prostitution and one count of conspiracy to commit interstate travel to aid in a racketeering enterprise.

"Sex traffickers prey on especially vulnerable young people and exploit them for profit in terrible ways," said U.S. Attorney Andrew E. Lelling for the District of Massachusetts. "This is one of the most serious crimes we prosecute, and we will continue to devote significant resources to targeting and punishing those who commit this offense."

Engram is also accused of forcing the victims to travel to Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia and Maine to perform commercial sex acts, and keeping some of all of the money paid to the victims.

"The Department of Justice is committed to eradicating the horrendous and immoral crime of sex trafficking as demonstrated by today's indictment," said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband of the Civil Rights Division. "The Civil Rights Division will continue to prosecute human traffickers and seek out justice on behalf of victims and survivors of all forms of human trafficking."

Homeland Security Investigations conducted the investigation with assistance from the Boston Police Department. Assistant U.S. Attorney Suzanne Sullivan Jacobus, of U.S. Attorney Lelling's Major Crimes Unit, and Trial Attorneys Shan Patel, Vasantha Rao and Maryam Zhuravitsky of the Civil Rights Division are prosecuting the case.

(The details contained in the charging document are allegations. The defendant is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.)