Cambridge City Councilor Paul Toner faces pressure to resign after he was named in an alleged ongoing high-end brothel network that operated in Cambridge.
On Friday, Toner was among a handful of men identified at a Cambridge hearing for allegedly buying sex through the brothel ring . Court filings allege he sent more than 400 texts to the brothel operator and paid for sex more than a dozen times in 2023.
“I caused pain for the people I care about most. For that I will be forever sorry,” Toner said in a statement released Friday. A spokesperson for Toner told GBH News it is an ongoing legal matter, and he will have no further comment.
Toner is a second-term city councilor, a former president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and has a wife and two children.
At least one of his fellow Cambridge city councilors, Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler, has called on him to resign — as has state Rep. Michael Connolly.
“The crime of sex trafficking involves the element of coercion,” said Connolly, who is co-sponsoring a bill that would legalize consensual sex work in Massachusetts.
Patricia Nolan, one of Toner’s colleagues on Cambridge City Council, said the allegations are serious and disheartening.
“I don’t care about anyone’s sex life,” Nolan said. “What I care about is these activities were criminal. In Massachusetts, there’s a reason that the commonwealth prohibits brothels is because they exploit and commodify vulnerable people.”
Nolan said she feels sorry for Toner and his family and the community, but that this would not be a victimless crime.
Nolan was one of four councilors, along with Sumbul Siddiqui, Burhan Azeem and Sobrinho-Wheeler, who released a joint statement Monday regarding the allegations against Toner.
“Councilor Toner has the right to a fair process through the judicial system. Any violation of the law would violate the oath of office he took upon taking office,” the councilors wrote. “Solicitation of prostitution is illegal in Massachusetts. If convicted, his actions would not simply be a lapse in judgment of a private individual, but a crime and a violation of the trust placed in him by the public.”
A group of high school students called Title IX Aurelia Advocates, a sexual violence advocacy group at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, sent members of the Cambridge City Council a letter condemning Toner’s alleged actions. They also read the statement at the Monday night Cambridge City Council meeting.
“The Title IX Aurelia Advocates strongly urges the City Council to call for Toner’s resignation. What message are we sending young people if Toner is permitted to stay in office?” they wrote.
Toner said at the meeting that he does not plan to step down.
A Cambridge resident who operated the brothel network has already pleaded guilty in federal court, and was sentenced to four years in prison. Investigators shut down the brothel ring in 2023, after a review of its operations revealed an extensive list of wealthy men on its roster were paying for sex.
Cambridge Mayor Denise Simmons did not comment on the allegations against Toner when GBH News contacted her office.
