December 17, 2015
Man Sentenced to 11 Years in Fla. Prison for Gay Hungarian Sex-Slave Ring
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One of the accused ringleaders of a gay Hungarian sex-slave ring was sentenced to 11 years in a Florida prison Tuesday for human trafficking, the Miami Herald reports.
Andras Janos Vass, 26, who hails from Hungary, was convicted of human trafficking and racketeering in April, and faced a maximum sentence of 155 years. He and two other men were accused of luring three Hungarian men, aged between 20 and 22, to work for their company, Never Sleep Inc. They promised the victims that they could make between $3,500 to $5,000 a month for legal escort work.
The men lured from Hungary said they spent more than a year confined to bedrooms in New York and Miami and were constantly forced to have sex with customers.
The two other men allegedly heading the sex ring Gabor Acs and Viktor Berki, are currently awaiting trial.
Authorities said the ringleaders met the victims in Hungary via a website called GayRomeo.com. Another victim was reportedly "living with gypsies" as a male prostitute when Acs met him through Facebook, the Miami Herald reports.
When the victims were flown to NYC in 2012, Homeland Security Investigations agent Melissa Pavlikowski said they "believed they would only be in New York for a few months to make tens of thousands of dollars before returning to their homeland and their families."
Vass' attorney Adam Goodman said his client was an active participant in the sex ring before he was victimized by the other two men, and forced to marry one of them.
"He wasn't the one who committed the violence," Goodman told the Miami Herald.
Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Richard Hersch handed down a fairly light sentence against Vass, just over 140 months in state prison.
"I know very well that I am culpable," Vass told the court, through an interpreter. "After I do my time, I would like to start a new clean life and I'm asking for God's help and I pray every day for forgiveness."