Edison Man Indicted on Prostitution, $500K Diamond Theft Conspiracy Charges

An Edison pimp and his girlfriend have been indicted for their roles in a prostitution ring and the theft of half a million dollars worth of diamonds. 

Percival R. Williams, 36, was indicted by a grand jury on Tuesday on first-degree charges of human trafficking, kidnapping and racketeering, according to a press release from the NJ Office of the Attorney General.

Williams, who went by the street names "Knowledge" and "Don Cholo" is accused of using violence and violent threats to keep women enslaved in prostitution, according to the release. 

Posing as a music producer, Williams allegedly brought young women to New Jersey with false promises of a relationship or a better life, according to the release. 

He also stands accused of kidnapping a woman from Cleveland by allegedly lacing a drink with narcotics and then transporting her, while unconscious, to New Jersey, where he tried to force her into prostitution, according to the release. 

The women used for prostitution were kept in his home or in nearby hotels and pimped out through ads placed by Williams on the website Backpage.com, according to the release.

He also solicited clients by sending the women to luxury hotels in Manhattan, Las Vegas and Atlantic City, where they were told to charge clients hourly rates of $500-$1,000 for sex and turn all the money over to Williams. 

They were beaten if they did not earn enough, according to the release.

Williams was also charged with conspiring with his girlfriend, Asha Chanell Vaughn, 24, to bring an estimated $500,000 worth of stolen diamonds into the state, according to the release.

Vaughn allegedly stole the uncut diamonds on April 17, 2012 from a Cosmopolitan Hotel room in Manhattan, where she had been to solicit prostitution from the man staying there. 

She has been indicted on charges of racketeering, conspiracy, receiving stolen property and promoting prostitution, according to the release. 

Williams was arrested in Dallas, Texas on Feb. 26 by the U.S. Marshals Service and remains jailed at the Middlesex County Jail in North Brunswick on $1 million bail. Vaughn was arrested on Feb. 28 at Williams' home and was released on $50,000 bail.

“Williams allegedly forced women into a life where they had to prostitute themselves or be beaten,” said Acting Attorney General Hoffman. “Through isolation and fear, he enslaved vulnerable women from as far away as Ohio in his prostitution ring," Acting NJ Attorney General John J. Hoffman said, in a prepared statement.  

Anyone who has tips on human trafficking is urged to call the New Jersey Human Trafficking Task Force hotline at 1-855-END-NJ-HT (1-855-363-6548).