This is how Tyshaun McGhee and Sidney McGee forced two women into prostitution: two men from Roxbury approached a 24-year-old homeless woman outside a hospital in Boston in September, 2012, according to court testimony. They offered her drugs and then drove her to a house nearby, where she was posed and photographed. The men posted the photo online to draw in customers. Another victim was picked up under similar circumstances outside a methadone clinic in Boston.
At the house, doors were bolted, windows were shut tight and the two women were held against their wills. A Suffolk County jury found that both men and an accomplice profited by prostituting the women to men answering the ads. McGhee and McGee — who are not related — pocketed 100 percent of the money exchanged.
The traffickers were driving the women back from a hotel in Peabody when the victims jumped from the car as it idled at a traffic light. The victims ran to Boston Medical Center seeking help. In a press release, Suffolk County District Attorney Dan Conley said, “This was anything but a victimless crime. These women were homeless, drug-dependent, and vulnerable.”
Mcghee and McGee were found guilty by a Suffolk Superior Court jury of three counts each of trafficking a person for sexual servitude, and face up to 20 years in state prison.
