West Roxbury Couple Charged With Human Trafficking '12 Hours a Day, 7 Days a Week'

BOSTON, MA — A West Roxbury couple is being held on bail, arraigned Thursday on human trafficking charges that allegedly involved running a sex-for-cash operation out of an Allston home 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

Yuet Chow, 53, and Kim Chow, 69, allegedly ran what prosecutors describe as a "house of prostitution."

Each was held on a half-million-dollar bail Thursday after their arraignment in Suffolk Superior Court, down from a million-dollar bail set for each during their original appearance in Brighton Municipal Court.

The operation was allegedly run out of a dilapidated house in the unit block of Haskell Street.

There, detectives with the Boston Police Department's Human Trafficking Unit report that an investigation began after they received a report of a "steady stream of men entering the address each day and remaining inside for approximately a half-hour at a time from 11:00 am to 11:00 pm or later."

The Suffolk County District Attorney alleges the property "was used for the purposes of human trafficking 12 hours a day, seven days a week, with victims brought in from out of state to sell sexual conduct for cash.”

The case is bolstered, the DA's office said, by interviews with men leaving the premises, who stated they found the location through an ad on Backpage.com and were given the address through a series of texts and phone calls with a woman the DA's office said they identified as Yuet Chow. Upon arriving at the building, they were met by Chow and directed to a bedroom, where they exchanged cash for sexual conduct, prosecutors allege.

The house was leased under the Chows' name with money paid from their joint bank account, the DA's office said.

It was a full-time job, according to prosecutors' allegations. The DA's office said Kim Chow traveled from the couple’s West Roxbury home to the Haskell Street apartment at 8 a.m. each day and remained there until approximately 11:30 p.m., when the final client left.

Detectives executed a search warrant on the property in September, the DA's office said. They found three young women, all from New York City, who were staying at the apartment for 10 days at a time, according to prosecutors. A second warrant executed at the Chows' home recovered ledgers, condoms, $20,000 and other evidence, according to the DA's office.

The Chows return to court March 1.

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