Concord couple accused of running multistate sex-trafficking ring
A Concord couple is accused of running a sex-trafficking ring across New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine.
Officials say they lured young Chinese women who spoke little to no English to work as prostitutes at multiple locations.
Federal prosecutors in Maine say that Shou Chao Li and his wife, Derong Miao, operated that ring out of rental properties and hotels across the three states. They’re accused of luring and enticing at least 27 women to the U.S. from China between July 2016 and February of this year.
Court documents show a long list of properties where prosecutors allege the pair conducted the illegal operation. Those properties include rental units on Harrington Avenue and West Street in Manchester, as well as locations in Dover, Portsmouth and Vermont and Portland, Maine.
Ronnie Bates, who lives near one of the homes in Maine, said his neighbor asked him to check on the house after multiple suspicious visits by strangers to the neighborhood.
His neighbor asking him to check on the house after multiple suspicious visits by strangers to the neighborhood.
"Most of this was happening late at night and she had just come over and said, ‘I've got a real bad feeling. Will you just see what's going on over there?’ So I did," Bates said.
He said a young Asian woman answered the door, and the circumstances led him to call police.
"When I saw what I saw, which was disturbing, I was like this isn't right. Time to get somebody else involved,” he said.
The couple is scheduled to appear in federal court in Maine on Tuesday.