Baldwin Man Found Guilty of Running Sex Trafficking Ring: Feds

MSN
By Jerry Barmash
11/13/24

Baldwin Man Found Guilty of Running Sex Trafficking Ring: Feds

A federal jury convicted a Baldwin man on Tuesday of sex trafficking by force and two counts of interstate prostitution, prosecutors announced.

Michail McKen, 36, ran a sex trafficking business in Nassau and Suffolk counties, U.S. Attorney Breon Peace said.

The verdict came after a six-day trial.

"The defendant stands convicted today of luring vulnerable women into his web of deceit and coercing them to have commercial sex with men all over the country, including on Long Island," Peace said. "He falsely promised his victims a better life, but instead controlled their lives with threats of violence and manipulation to enrich himself."

When he is sentenced, McKen, who also had a Phoenix, Arizona residence, faces a mandatory minimum term of 15 years in prison and up to life in prison, Peace said.

As proven at trial, between 2019 and 2022, McKen was a pimp who used violence and threats of violence to coerce multiple women to engage in commercial sex acts for his own profit. McKen often recruited sex workers through social media and then caused them to travel to Long Island, where McKen is originally from, to engage in commercial sex acts in hotels and other locations. As part of his sex trafficking business, Peace announced.

He choked, beat and threatened the victims at gunpoint to control them, prosecutors said.

FBI Assistant Director in Charge Dennehy stated: “For three years, Michail McKen established a national trafficking route to ensnare and force countless women into sexual slavery. False promises and deceit progressed into physical violence and degradation to ensure his victims remained captive."

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