PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — A New Hampshire husband and wife accused of using Chinese nationals in a sex-trafficking operation in Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are due in court.
Detention hearings are scheduled Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Portland, Maine, for 37-year-old Sou Chao Li and his wife, 37-year-old Derong Maio, of Concord, New Hampshire.
An indictment unsealed when they were arrested Thursday indicates they used a messaging system popular in China to entice women to come to the U.S. on tourist visas to work in the sex industry.
The indictment indicates at least 27 women were involved in the operation. In at least one instance, the couple took a woman’s passport to ensure cooperation.
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