By Tiffany Williams –
The head of a Boston non-profit that claimed to help people get back on their feet is now facing a federal indictment for slinging crack cocaine — all while dragging women and even a child into his dangerous world, prosecutors said.
Javan Tooley, 36, the founder and CEO of Adapt & Evolve LLC, was busted Sept. 23 and hauled into federal court in Boston, where a judge ordered him locked up until a detention hearing set for Friday. A grand jury had already indicted him a few days earlier on charges of distributing more than 28 grams of crack.
Tooley, who split time between Dorchester and Brockton, wasn’t some first-time offender who slipped up. Court records paint him as a career criminal with a rap sheet soaked in drugs, violence, and exploitation.
Back in 2010, he was nailed for selling crack to an undercover fed and did five years behind bars. When he got out, he couldn’t stay clean — violating supervised release at least five times and earning himself nearly two more years in prison.
But prosecutors say the drug hustling was only part of his racket. Tooley allegedly ran a twisted side operation, targeting vulnerable women — many struggling with addiction — and forcing them into prostitution to line his pockets. He allegedly fueled their habits with the same drugs he was selling on the street and ruled through fear, bragging about his supposed ties to cops and power players. Investigators say he even used his non-profit’s phone to set up deals.
The non-profit, Adapt & Evolve, was billed as a community re-entry program to help people rebuild their lives. Instead, prosecutors say, Tooley turned it into a front while preying on the very people he claimed to serve.
The charges detail one deal in particular that shows just how reckless Tooley had become. On Sept. 10, prosecutors say, he sold 100 grams of crack cocaine out of his car near Fields Corner in Dorchester — while a six- or seven-year-old child sat in the back seat.
Not two weeks later, Tooley allegedly lined up another sale with a cooperating witness, this time outside Roxbury District Court. When he showed up on Sept. 23, agents swooped in and arrested him. They say he had 160 grams of crack on him when he was cuffed.
Now Tooley, already branded by his old federal drug conviction, is staring down a mandatory minimum of 10 years and could spend the rest of his life in prison. He also faces at least eight years of supervised release if he ever gets out, along with a potential $8 million fine.