26-year-old man jailed for 11 years for involvement in gay sex slavery ring

A 26-year-old man has been sentenced to 11 years in prison for his involvement in a human trafficking and gay sex slavery ring in Miami, Florida.

Andras Janos Vass, a Hungarian national, was convicted of human trafficking a racketeering on Tuesday (December 15), the Miami Herald reports.  He faced a maximum sentence of 155 years.

With the help of two other men, who are still awaiting trial, Vass lured young males from their native Hungary with the promise of work before imprisoning them and forcing them to have sex with men and each other in explicit online webcam shows.

The three victims, aged 20-22, were promised between $3,500 to $5,000 a month for legal escort work through the perpetrators’ company Never Sleep Inc. According to authorities, the ringleaders met two victims in Hungary through a website called GayRomeo.com

According to the arrest warrant, the victims “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,” but after arriving had their passports confiscated and were confined to a one-bedroom apartment, where they were repeatedly raped, beaten and threatened.

“I was under their control, all day, all night,” one victim said in a statement read to the court. “They used me like I was a machine. They sold me to strangers. I was not allowed to be tired. I was not allowed to be sad.”

Another described to the judge the effect the ordeal had had on him, saying: “It’s really hard for me to socialize, to mingle with people. I started drinking heavily to try and forget. I lost all my friends.”

The court heard that Vass become involved in the slavery ring after being trafficked himself by the other two men currently facing trial, and was forced to marry one of them.