WOBURN, Mass. (AP) — A Massachusetts woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for running what prosecutors called an extensive human trafficking and money laundering operation.
State Attorney General Maura Healey announced Thursday that 38-year-old Xiu Chen, of Medford, was sentenced Wednesday after having been been convicted of multiple crimes by a Middlesex Superior Court jury on Dec. 3 after a five-day trial.
Healey says Chen set up massage parlors as fronts for human trafficking and brought female victims to Massachusetts to engage in sex. Healey says the women were recruited from New York and lived in overcrowded housing where they slept on mattresses on the floor or massage tables.
Authorities say the illegal activity occurred in Bedford, Billerica, Medford, Reading, Wilmington and Woburn.
(Copyright (c) 2024 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)