Contact: Beth Stone 508-584-8120
HINGHAM – Five men have been indicted on a human trafficking charge after they attempted to meet up with an undercover police officer posing online as a female, Plymouth County District Attorney Timothy J. Cruz announced today.
On Friday, October 15, a Plymouth County grand jury indicted: Brian Dick, 49 of Abington, James Bi, 35, of Wakefield, Brendan Garafalo, 26, of Lakeville, Viet Hung Nguyen, 46, of Brockton, and Eric VanRiper, 38, of Pembroke. Each were indicted on one count of Trafficking of a Person For Sexual Servitude and Sexual Conduct for a Fee.
The indictments follow an investigation after the Massachusetts State Police High Risk Victims Unit, and members of other various State Police Units, along with the Rockland Police Department, Boston Police Human Trafficking Task Force, and the Plymouth County Sheriff’s Department, collaborated to reduce the demand of commercial sexual exploitation occurring in Plymouth County. On August, 5, 2021, investigators posted a commercial sex advertisement online, and a police officer working undercover posed as a female escort. A Rockland hotel was utilized as the meeting place.
The indictments allege that from 8 p.m. to midnight, the five men separately, allegedly contacted the undercover phone number assigned to the online commercial sex post. The men and undercover investigator arranged to meet up and exchange a sexual act for various monetary amounts. The defendants were then given the location and room number at the hotel. Upon arrival at the hotel, the men were placed under arrest and taken into custody.
The five men will be arraigned on the indictment in superior court at a later date.
Assistant District Attorney Amanda Fowle is prosecuting the case.