College admissions employee tries sex trafficking teen applicant in MA, feds say
An administrator at a private Catholic college in Boston faces a federal sex trafficking charge after prosecutors said he kept texting a 17-year-old prospective student, offering to pay her $400 for sex acts with him.
Jacob Henriques, 29, who was the assistant admissions director at Emmanuel College, gave the teen a tour of the school and then started texting her — without revealing who he was — hours later on April 25, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.
She’s one of at least three admitted or prospective students Henriques met with that day and started contacting, offering to “pay them for some fun,” prosecutors said. Henriques also offered to share pornography and sent pornographic content to some of them, according to prosecutors.
Henriques, of Boston, has potentially preyed on a number of victims between 2024 and 2025, according to the FBI, which is investigating. The agency’s Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force is looking for additional possible victims.
Now, Henriques is charged with attempted sex trafficking of a minor, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a May 2 news release. He was arrested the evening of May 2.
He was due in Boston federal court on May 5. Attorney information for him wasn’t immediately available.
The text messages
When Henriques showed the 17-year-old girl around Emmanuel College on April 25, prosecutors said he asked her where she went to high school and what grade she was in.
Then, “within hours of finishing the tour,” he messaged the phone number she included on her college admissions form and offered her $400 to have “‘some fun’ right now,” prosecutors said.
Henriques also said he had pornographic videos and photos “for her,” according to prosecutors.
He texted her again that night, still not revealing who he was or how he had her contact information, prosecutors said.
Although she continued to reject Henriques’ offers, he wouldn’t stop texting the teen, according to prosecutors.
In his text messages, Henriques told her “‘porn’ and ‘$’ was ready for her,’” then “sent (her) five pornographic videos depicting men and women engaged in sex acts and asked her whether or not she wanted to participate in a ‘gangbang,’” prosecutors said.
He kept questioning whether she’d like to engage in sex acts with him and offered to buy “anything she wanted” if she agreed, according to prosecutors.
After she blocked his number, prosecutors said he contacted her, asking for sex acts, this time via email.
For three days — from the day Henriques gave the teen a tour of Emmanuel College up until April 28 — he visited her online profile 47 times, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
When Emmanuel College staff learned he was accused of predatory behavior, the school fired him, the college said in a statement, according to the Boston Herald.
“Emmanuel College is saddened, angered, and shocked by these serious federal allegations that have been brought against a former employee….We have cooperated fully with authorities from the moment this matter came to our attention and will continue to do so,” the college said.
Online search results show Emmanuel College listed Henriques as a “proud alum” of the school’s class of 2021 and that he reviewed college applications from local regions of Massachusetts.
His full employee profile is no longer visible as of May 5.
The FBI urges potential victims, or parents of minors alleged to be victimized by Henriques, to share information by filling out an online form.
If Henriques is convicted of attempted sex trafficking of a minor, he’d face a minimum mandatory sentence of 10 years in federal prison, at least five years of supervised release and up to a $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
This story was originally published May 5, 2025 at 3:25 PM with the headline "College admissions employee tries sex trafficking teen applicant in MA, feds say."
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