BOSTON (WHDH) - Two Massachusetts residents were sentenced to prison on Thursday for trafficking women for sex at brothels throughout the Greater Boston area, officials announced.
A Suffolk Superior Court jury found Pingxia Fan, 42, of Boston, and Timothy Hayes, 53, of Gloucester, guilty of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, deriving support from prostitution, keeping a house of ill fame, and money laundering, according to Boston’s Federal Bureau of Investigation.
A joint investigation involving the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Office and the FBI found that Fan and Hayes were trafficking women for sex at brothels in Boston, Cambridge, North Reading, and Quincy.
“These defendants made hundreds of thousands of dollars by exploiting numerous victims who were confined to the brothels day and night,” Attorney General Maura Healey said in a news release. “This case is a reminder that human trafficking exposes people to unimaginable trauma and abuse.”
Fan and Hayes are said to have used multiple vehicles to transport sex trafficking victims, money, and supplies. They then arranged for women to meet with men at the brothel locations to provide commercial sexual services in exchange for cash.
Most of the money the duo raked in was laundered into their business to perpetuate the daily operations of their criminal enterprise, officials said.
“We are especially gratified that Pingxia Fan and Timothy Hayes, who exploited women for personal profit through sexual servitude, will now answer for these appalling injustices,” said Joseph R. Bonavolonta, special agent in charge of the FBI Boston Division. “Human trafficking respects no boundaries where age, gender or nationality are concerned. What happened to the victims, in this case, deserves society’s outrage, just as investigating all forms of this criminal activity deserves to be a top priority of law enforcement.”
Both Fan and Hayes were both sentenced to serve up to six years in prison.
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