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Updated March 21, 2025, at 7:35 p.m.
Cambridge City Councilor Paul F. Toner was charged with buying sex from a high-end brothel network that operated in parts of Cambridge and Watertown at a Friday hearing.
Toner and ten other men were named on Friday as suspected brothel clients and charged with sexual conduct for a fee — a misdemeanor that rarely carries jail time — at a probable cause hearing at the Cambridge District Court.
Though Toner was summoned to appear for the probable cause hearing — the second of three hearings scheduled for 28 alleged clients — he did not come to court, like the rest of the men identified Friday. The Cambridge Police Department, appearing in front of a clerk magistrate instead of a judge, argued to charge him with a misdemeanor.
The three scheduled “show-cause” hearings determine whether there is enough evidence to charge a defendant with a crime. At a hearing last week, all 12 men who were named faced charges.
In a Friday afternoon statement to The Boston Globe, Toner wrote that he “caused pain for the people I care about most. For that, I will be forever sorry.”
Toner did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The Crimson. A city spokesperson and multiple councilors, including Mayor E. Denise Simmons, also did not immediately respond.
Timothy R. Flaherty, Toner’s lawyer, said that he would not advise Toner to resign, and that the decision “is up to Paul.”
CPD Lieutenant Jarred Cabral presented evidence from a December 2023 police report, detailing text exchanges between Toner and the brothel ringleaders that arranged the time and payment for multiple visits in 2023.
Toner communicated with a phone run by the brothel operators, according to a statement read by Cabral, and patronized the brothel multiple times between January and September 2023.
In one instance highlighted by Cabral, Toner paid $340 for an hourlong “GFE,” or “girlfriend experience,” which police have said refers to a more “intimate experience” and can include sex acts.
Flaherty called Toner a “man of high character” at the courthouse in Medford after charges were filed against the councilor on Friday.
“None of us are perfect,” Flaherty said to reporters after the hearing, adding that “Cambridge is lucky to have him.”
Clerk Magistrate Sharon S. Casey agreed to advance the charge of sexual conduct for a fee, issuing a criminal complaint that opens the door for Toner’s trial in the next several weeks.
The charges against Toner come one week after a dozen men were criminally charged with buying sex through the brothel network. The remaining twelve alleged clients are set to be named at a hearing next week.
Toner — a Cambridge native — has served on the council since 2022, touting himself as a “practical progressive” with more moderate views than some of his colleagues.
In the past year, Toner has championed increased city spending for police and education. He also proposed a series of amendments to the city’s upzoning proposal to reduce the allowed height of developments.
Toner co-sponsored a proposal last year to extend the city’s deadline to complete its network of separated bike lanes by a year — and he was one of five councilors who voted to approve the delay after a contentious meeting last April.
Prior to holding office, Toner spent more than a decade in union leadership, serving for eight years as the president of Massachusetts Teachers Association, a teachers’ union with more than 100,000 members.
Toner was one of 11 men named and charged in the Friday hearing. Though all were ordered to appear in person, none did.
Lawyers for Howard Redmond and James C. Cusack did not appear.
Lawyers defending Steven Riel, Nathaniel Welch, Jeffrey Henry, Frederick G. Rosenthal, Timothy Ackerson, Mathew E. Fulton, Anurag Bajpayee, Toner, and Paul E. Grant argued that police failed to provide sufficient evidence.
After hearing details from the police and brief arguments from the attorneys present, Casey ruled to proceed with criminal charges for all 11 men.
The 23 men charged thus far are all scheduled to be arraigned in May.
—Staff writers Shawn A. Boehmer and Jack B. Reardon contributed reporting.
—Staff writer Matan H. Josephy can be reached matan.josephy@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @matanjosephy.
—Staff writer Laurel M. Shugart can be reached at laurel.shugart@thecrimson.com. Follow them on X @laurelmshugart or on Threads @laurel.shugart.
