BOSTON (WWLP) – The founder of a Boston nonprofit that claims to provide re-entry support services has been indicted on sex and drug trafficking charges.
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According to the U.S. District Attorney’s Office, 36-year-old Javan Tooley of Dorchester and Brockton was indicted last Thursday by a federal grand jury on one count of distributing 28 grams or more of cocaine base.
Courtesy of the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
Tooley is the founder and CEO of Adapt & Evolve LLC, which presents itself as a community re-entry support organization. Prosecutors allege he used the nonprofit’s phone to coordinate drug transactions and claimed connections to law enforcement and influential officials to intimidate others.
According to court filings, Tooley has a lengthy criminal record. In 2010, he was convicted in U.S. District Court in Boston of distributing cocaine after selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer. He was sentenced to five years in prison followed by five years of supervised release, during which prosecutors said he violated conditions at least five times. Those violations led to an additional 22 months of incarceration.
Prosecutors also allege Tooley was involved in sex trafficking activity. Court filings claim he recruited women, many of whom struggled with substance abuse disorders, to engage in commercial sex for his financial benefit and to distribute drugs on his behalf. He allegedly used violence and intimidation to control victims.
On Sept. 10, 2025, Tooley allegedly sold 100 grams of crack cocaine near Fields Corner in Dorchester, just steps from his nonprofit’s office. Prosecutors said the sale took place inside his vehicle while a young child, about six or seven years old, was in the back seat.
Courtesy of the U.S. District Attorney’s Office.
Later that month, Tooley allegedly arranged another sale with a cooperating witness near Roxbury District Court. Authorities said he was arrested on Sept. 23 when he arrived for the discount and was allegedly carrying about 160 grams of crack cocaine.
Because of his prior federal drug trafficking conviction, Tooley faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and up to life in prison, at least eight years of supervised release, and a fine of as much as $8 million, prosecutors said.
He was ordered detained pending a hearing scheduled for this Friday, September 26, in federal court in Boston.
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