Pennsylvania: Nathaniel Pagan now charge with human trafficking after prostitute talks
A Reading man who was arrested in a prostitution sting organized by a Spring Township detective last month faces new charges including human trafficking. Nathaniel E.R. Pagan has now been linked to a new investigation after those other charges were reported.
Pagan, 18, now faces three counts each of involuntary servitude, trafficking in individuals, criminal use of a communication facility and related counts after an arraignment before District Judge Thomas H. Xavios.
The Pennsylvania resident was attacked, robbed by two men about the suspected abuse of a young woman for whom he paid for sex. The man then revealed that he had ordered a prostitute to his residence twice by calling a number in an advertisement.
He said a man drove her to her “dates” and waited outside while she went into the home alone. This man was Pagan.
Crime Scene Tape photo/edited pic from FBI.gov
Detective Stephen Brock, who is also attached to the district attorney’s major crimes and drug task forces, conducted an undercover investigation. He contacted the woman through the website and, posing as a customer, arranged for her to meet him at an area hotel.
It was Pagan who arrived with the woman in a taxi. Police arrested Pagan and questioned the woman.
The prostitute, female victim, 20, told police that she feared Pagan and he would not allow her a cell phone, took all of her money and forced her to be with more man.
“She was actually telling us (that) she was hoping someone would help her,” Brock said. “It was strange. She was actually smiling and very relieved and thanking us. When people are arrested they usually don’t act that way.”
Pagan was in possession of synthetic marijuana packaged for sale. Brock continued to investigate after Pagan’s arrest. He determined that Pagan recruited and forced women into prostitution for his own financial gain by facilitating their drug use, keeping their belongings from them and assaulting them.
“The greater goal, we believe, is this man was potentially violent to not only the public but this woman,” Detective Steve Brock said. “She told the robbery victim he was showing up at the door (of customers) and taking her money, and sometimes he was assaulting customers.”Obviously, he had assaulted a resident of the township and it was only a matter of time before they do it again in this township or elsewhere in Berks County.”
The advertisement that included semi-nude photos of the woman who went by the name “Cinderella.” The ad promoted “in calls” and “out calls,” which are visits to the customer’s home or a hotel room.
NOTE: The woman was forced into prostitution so the identification has been changed to reflect his information, BBJ The Dispatch. See comment below.
photo Gerd Altmann via pixabay
“The prostitute, 20, told police that she feared Pagan and he would not allow her a cell phone, took all of her money and forced her to be with more man.”
She IS NOT a prostitute. She is a victim of sex trafficking. Please be careful not to label the victim a “prostitute” because that implies she wanted to be doing what she was doing, when in fact she was being forced. That makes her a sex trafficking victim.
While that is true, at the time the term was used for prostitute because she was described that way by police and soliciting at a remote location.
Most think of trafficking victims of being confined or even chained inside of a fixed location.
Your point will be noted.