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Lamont Young, age 41, of Hauppauge, and Michail McKen, age 35, of Baldwin are named in separate indictments that were unsealed in federal court in Central Islip Wednesday, Sept. 27.
According to prosecutors, both men forced women to engage in prostitution by subjecting them to violence.
Young spent a decade recruiting victims, beginning in 2011, by promising them financial stability, prosecutors said. He allegedly then used violence, fraud, and coercion to force them into performing commercial sex acts for his financial benefit.
At least one of the victims was a minor who engaged in multiple sex acts on Long Island in 2016 and 2017, according to prosecutors.
Young referred to the women who worked for him as a “program” or “movement,” and allegedly subjected them to violence when they disobeyed him. Some of the women were branded with tattoos of the letter “P” for his street name “Paper,” a reference to money.
McKen is accused of compelling multiple women into prostitution between 2019 and 2022, often using violence or threats of violence.
He often recruited sex workers in Virginia and then brought them to Long Island to engage in commercial sex acts, prosecutors allege.
Victims were reportedly sent around the country, including to Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Arizona, Kentucky, and Oregon.
According to investigators, McKen separated his victims into two tiers: high-end, experienced women who could garner higher prices and lower-end, less competitive women who often struggled with drug addiction.
In order to continue victimizing some of the women who were addicted to drugs, McKen allegedly bribed them with a rationed supply of narcotics that was just enough to keep them from experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
“This pair preyed on and recruited vulnerable young women for years using violence and other measures to force them to engage in sex acts for their own financial gain,” said Suffolk County Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison.
Both Young and McKen were arrested Wednesday and charged with sex trafficking by force and interstate prostitution. Young is also charged with sex trafficking of a minor.
They face between 15 years and life in prison if convicted.
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