PHOENIX — A suspected sex trafficker was arrested in Arizona last week after he allegedly coerced women into engaging in commercial sex acts.
Michail McKen, 35, is facing criminal charges in New York after investigators identified him as the alleged mastermind behind a national sex trafficking operation.
He and another man, Lamont Young, are separately accused of recruiting women into their respective trafficking networks and forcing them to engage in sexual acts with paying clients.
“This pair preyed on and recruited vulnerable young women for years using violence and other measures to force them to engage in sex acts for their own financial gain,” stated Suffolk County Police Department Commissioner Rodney K. Harrison.
McKen allegedly recruited women from Virginia and would then send them to work in Arizona, Massachusetts, Kentucky and Oregon. The defendant would allegedly recruit women struggling with drug addiction and supplied them with narcotics in exchange for their work, according to federal investigators.
The criminal offenses involving McKen allegedly occurred between 2019 and 2022.
McKen made his first court appearance in Phoenix last week. He and Young are facing several years in prison if convicted.
Anyone with information on McKen or another case of sex trafficking can contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI.
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