'Sugar Daddy' Indicted On Multiple Child Sex Trafficking Charges

ARLINGTON, VA — An Arlington man was indicted by a federal grand jury Wednesday on multiple sex trafficking of minors and manufacturing child pornography charges, according to a U.S. Justice Department release.

Court documents say that 46-year-old Matthew Erausquin was a "frequent commercial sex customer of six underage girls and three other young adults" from June 2017 through at least August 2020. During that time, court documents say he visited a "sugar daddy" website and dating app to meet some of the girls, identifying himself in at least one instance as an 18 or 19-year-old man.

Erausquin then engaged the girls in commercial sex arrangements, where he paid them between $500 to $800 per encounter, according to the indictment. In addition, he paid the girls with expensive gifts and marijuana and offered them at least $1,000 to take part in a threesome, court documents say.

“The defendant allegedly used his money and power to sexually exploit minors,” said Raj Parekh, acting U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, in a release. “We remain steadfast in our commitment to holding accountable those who prey on and victimize children, and to seeking justice for society’s most vulnerable members.”

The indictment also claims that Erausquin secretly recorded some of the sexual encounters he had with some of the underage girls, and continued to engage in commercial sex activity after some of them after they had turned 18. He also flew one of the victims back to Virginia after she had moved away and paid her for sex, according to court documents.

Authorities charged Erausquin with the following:

• six counts of sex trafficking of minors;
• one count of production of child pornography
• one count of transporting a person across state lines for purposes of prostitution; and
• three counts of coercion and enticement to travel in interstate commerce for prostitution.

If Erausquin is convicted of these charges, he faces a mandatory sentence of 15 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison.

This cases was investigated by the FBI Washington Field Office’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force, which is made up of FBI agents and detectives from Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia.