U.S. Attorney Bridget M. Brennan announced that Larrien Brown-Austin, 37, of Canton, Ohio, pleaded guilty in federal court on Thursday, January 6, 2022, to participating in a sex trafficking conspiracy that forced multiple women to perform commercial sex acts for profit.
According to court documents, from June through August of 2018, Brown-Austin lived at a residence in Canton provided by his father that he used to facilitate commercial sex acts. In June of 2018, Brown-Austin met Victim #1 and Victim #2 and forced both victims to live at the residence, perform commercial sex acts and provide him with the profits.
Court records state that Brown-Austin supplied his victims with drugs in an attempt to foster an addiction and withdrawal dependency cycle that forced them to rely upon him for more drugs. Documents show that Brown-Austin used force, threats, acts of violence and leveraged the drug dependency of his victims to coerce them into performing additional commercial sex acts. Brown-Austin also kept a mobile tracking application on the cell phones of his victims in order to determine their whereabouts at all times.
Also charged in this matter as co-defendants are Shannon Marzano, 30, and Larry Brown-Austin, 76, both of Canton. Marazano and Larry Brown-Austin have both previously pleaded guilty to their roles in the scheme.
Larrien Brown-Austin is scheduled to be sentenced on May 11, 2022.
This case was investigated by the Canton Police Department, the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and the FBI, Canton Office. This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Carol M. Skutnik.