Boston Police Crack Down On Human Trafficking On Methadone Mile

BOSTON — A man was arrested for human trafficking along the area of Massachusetts Avenue and Melnea Cass Boulevard Wednesday after a joint operation led by detectives, officers, and agents of several agencies in an attempt to help make the notorious Mass and Cass area safer.

Keon Boggs, 40, of Boston, was arrested and charged with human trafficking and trafficking a person for sexual servitude Wednesday around 6:30 p.m. near Mass and Cass.

The arrest was the result of an operation dubbed H.E.A.T. run by members of State Police, Boston Police Human Trafficking Unit, other BPD units, and the FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force in what they called an attempt to "address the increasingly high levels of exploitation" seen in the area.

The operation also issued four other men summonses as attempted buyers of sex.

As the weather gets warmer, the "Methadone Mile" area in Boston starts to become more populated with people who police say come to the area specifically to openly sell and use drugs.

The area is centered around the McDonalds at the Mass Ave and Melnea Cass intersection, one of Boston's busiest intersections. George Stergios of the Worcester Square Area Neighborhood Association told the Boston Herald that the situation at Mass and Cass is a "fiasco."

The streets were once so lined with tents and homeless encampments that Boston Mayor Michelle Wu organized a cleanup in January in an effort to help get homeless people off the streets, adding that tents cannot provide adequate needs for survival as the weather gets colder, especially in an environment surrounded by street violence and drug use daily.

The city has approached the area as a humanitarian and public health crisis because many of its residents were drawn by methadone clinics and social services in the area and were considered vulnerable to trafficking and other dangers.

Investigators are still seeking to identify and stop human traffickers and those wishing to buy sex from victims being trafficked, and say anyone with any information is always urged to contact the police. Operation H.E.A.T. stands for Human Exploitation and Trafficking.

Boggs is expected to be arraigned in Roxbury District Court Thursday.

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