Homeless women, single moms recruited by Kansas-based sex traffickers

A former Lawrence nightclub owner who helped operate a Midwestern prostitution ring was sentenced Monday to three years and 10 months in federal prison.

Frank Boswell was sentenced in U.S. District Court where he pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.

Boswell, 44, was a part owner of the now-closed Club Magic in Lawrence.

He admitted in his guilty plea that since 2010, he conspired with others to run the prostitution ring in multiple states.

The group had as many as 20 women at a time working for them.

Women in vulnerable situations were identified and coerced into prostitution, according to the terms of Boswell’s plea agreement.

“Members of the organization identified single mothers, females with drug problems or females living in shelters,” according to the agreement filed in federal court.

In some cases, according to evidence in the case, women were given drugs to make them “compliant and willing to engage in commercial sex acts.”

One woman later told investigators that was living in a homeless shelter when she recruited. Boswell told her that he would “take care of her” if she worked for him, according to the agreement.

Another woman and her child were brought from Hutchinson, Kan., to Topeka by a co-defendant in the case. She told investigators that Boswell once “choked her out,” but according to his plea agreement, she didn’t think it was “significant” because she hadn’t been beaten.

The business used online sites to place escort service ads.

Workers said that money they made from prostitution was turned over to Boswell who would pay their rent and utility and cell phone bills.

Five others have previously pleaded guilty to charges in the case.

This story was originally published November 7, 2017 at 7:22 AM with the headline "Homeless women, single moms recruited by Kansas-based sex traffickers."