Only 2 of 29 People Involved in Hotel Sex Party Facing Charges

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

Patrick Sargent, GoLocalWorcester Contributor

Earlier this month, officers from the Auburn Police and Worcester Police departments worked together to set up a sting that busted a sex party taking place at the Holiday Inn Express in Auburn.

There were 29 people present at the sex party. As a result of the bust, the party’s two ring-leaders were arrested - Jon A. Lowell, 45, and Courtney C. Nicholopoulos, 39, both of 56A Brigham St., Hubbardston - and charged with deriving money from prostitution.

At the time of the arrest, the possibility remained that 27 unidentified people would be charged in the near future with engaging in sex for a fee.

However, when GoLocal requested the list of names of the 27 other people involved in the party, the Worcester County District Attorney’s office could not reveal the names because they have yet to be arrested.

According to Timothy Connolly, Director of Communications for the DA’s office, due to the ongoing investigation, no charges have yet to be filed against the other 27 people.

When GoLocalWorcester spoke with Auburn’s Police Chief Andrew Sluckis early last week, he said that his department was still working with the District Attorney’s office to determine whether or not the five women and 22 men would face charges and what, if anything, they would be charged with.

Two Will Be in Court on August 26

Lowell and Nicholopoulos arranged the party through the adult sections of the websites Craigslist.com and Backpage.com.

According to Worcester Courthouse records, both Lowell and Nicholopoulos were arraigned on July 19 and their cases will be continued on August 26.

Lowell and Nicholopoulos told the five women that were present that they would be paid at least $5,000 each for sex with the 22 men present. The men were charged only as high as $100 each for entrance to the party.

The Hubbardston pair had no intentions of paying the women.

Healey Taking on Backpage.com

Attorney General Maura Healey

There is the possibility that the Attorney General Maura Healey’s office may take the investigation over because of the group's use of Backpage.com to facilitate the party in Auburn.

Since the beginning of this year, the Attorney General has been adamant in her attempts to take down sites like Backpage.com - due to a February lawsuit against the site for sex trafficking, and most recently, a murder of a 34-year-old prostitute in a hotel in Burlington, MA.

In a statement from earlier this month, Healey said, “As we have seen through our office’s work, Backpage.com and the internet have become increasingly popular vehicles for commercial sexual exploitation. In fact, most of the human trafficking cases that our office has prosecuted specifically involve advertisements on Backpage. It is clear that Backpage must do more to end the kind of exploitation that is advertised every day on its site. Today, I am calling on Backpage to immediately shut down the ‘adult’ section of its website – a long overdue step that I urge them to take now.”

Stay with GoLocalWorcester has more information becomes available.