Former U.S. Army Reservist Sentenced to 40 years in Prison for Sex Trafficking and a Related Offense

 U.S. District Judge Robert J. Conrad, Jr. of the Western District of North Carolina sentenced Xaver M. Boston, 31, of Charlotte, North Carolina, today to serve 40 years in prison and 30 years of supervised release. Judge Conrad also ordered Boston to pay $354,000 in restitution and $25,000 pursuant 18 U.S.C. 3014 and the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. A federal jury in Charlotte previously convicted Boston on Oct. 11, 2018, of six counts of sex trafficking and one count of using an interstate facility to promote a prostitution enterprise.  

Evidence presented during the three-day trial, including the testimony of three of the four victims identified in the indictment by their initials, revealed that Boston, who served in the U.S. Army as a reserve military policeman, operated an extensive sex trafficking enterprise in the Charlotte area between 2012 and September 2017, except for a brief period when he was deployed overseas. Boston recruited young women and one teenager by promising to provide them with a place to live and heroin or other opioids. Boston then advertised the victims on Backpage.com for prostitution and collected the proceeds for his own profit.

Evidence presented at trial showed that Boston used violence to control and coerce the victims. Testimony revealed that on multiple occasions, Boston choked one victim and punched and slapped other victims.  He also used a pistol to strike one victim in the face, breaking her nose.    

“The seriousness of today’s sentence reflects the extent to which the defendant in this case used physical violence and opioids to control and exploit the young vulnerable victims of his crime,” said Assistant Attorney General Eric Dreiband for the Civil Rights Division. “The Civil Rights Division is committed to fighting human trafficking and committed to working with our federal and state partners to provide justice to the victims of this vile crime.”

“Boston used fear, coercion and violence against young women to build a depraved sex trafficking criminal enterprise, robbing his victims of the most basic standards of human dignity. I could not be more pleased with his lengthy sentence,” said U.S. Attorney Andrew Murray for the Western District of North Carolina. “My office will continue to work with our law enforcement counterparts to hold accountable those who engage in this illegal, dehumanizing trade, and partner with community organizations to ensure victims receive the support they need on their path to recovery.”

“It takes an especially heinous person to physically, psychologically, and sexually abuse someone,” said Robert R. Wells, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI Charlotte Field Office. “Xaver Boston's victims truly believed he was there to help. There is no way of knowing the long term damage he caused to their lives, but we do know for certain he will pay with a lengthy federal prison sentence.”

The case was investigated by the FBI Charlotte, North Carolina, Field Division with assistance from the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Kimlani M. Ford of the Western District of North Carolina and Special Litigation Counsel Matthew T. Grady of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.