BUFFALO, N.Y. — A Flushing, NY woman, convicted of sex trafficking in WNY, was sentenced to more than four years in prison.
Feng Yang Chen, 43, was convicted of conspiracy to violate the Mann Act and the Travel Act related to the operation of an interstate prostitution business and using the internet to promote prostitution
She was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison.
Police say, between March 2011 and March 2016, Chen, and two others operated their own multi-state prostitution business. They used a website to promote and expand their business to states across the country including New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, and Texas.
Chen and another defendant operated a call center in Flushing, Queens scheduling appointments between prostitutes and clients. A third defendant drove the victims to hotels and collected the proceeds. Of the meeting places the commercial sex acts took place, two of them were in Western New York: Tonawanda, NY and Henrietta, NY.
"Men who wanted to have encounters with prostitutes would find these ads. They would call the phone number on the ad. It would loop to this woman, defendant Chen's house, she had women there who answered the phones, who set up the dates with the clients and the prostitutes, who were the trafficking victims here, in all different cities and states on the eastern seaboard and Midwest. The money would funnel back to Ms. Chen in Flushing, Queens," explained Assistant U.S. Attorney Elizabeth Moellering.
The defendants employed at least 12 victims from China who traveled state to state to perform sexual acts.
"There was actually a prostitution sting done at the Days Inn on Niagara Falls Boulevard in Tonawanda, and they had identified one of these Backpage ads," said Moellering.
“The conduct by the defendant amounted to treating her sex workers as modern-day slaves,” noted U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy, Jr. “She had the victims sell their bodies—robbing them of their dignity—in order that she might enrich herself. Such heinous behavior bought Chen the one thing she truly earned—a significant prison sentence.”
“Many people are unaware that human trafficking occurs and this tragic crime usually goes unnoticed in the United States,” said HSI Special Agent-in-Charge Kevin Kelly. “While we can't erase the suffering these women experienced, we can aggressively investigate and prosecute those responsible. HSI and our partners will continue to send a powerful warning that consequences await those engaged in these heinous acts.”
While some of the women have returned to China, others are now getting help here in the U.S.
"We've spoken with them, we helped get some of them have attorneys, some of them have counselors," explained Moellering. "A lot of them actually are thriving. The ones that have stayed have gotten in English classes, and I think that's the good positive story here."
Investigators say Chen made more than $2 million each year. As part of her sentence, she will forfeit about $450,000 as well as two properties and a 2012 Porsche Cayenne.
After Chen serves her sentence, prosecutors say an immigration judge will likely deport her.