BOSTON, Jan. 12, 2017—A West Roxbury couple were ordered held on high bail at their arraignment today on human trafficking charges for allegedly running a house of prostitution in Allston, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

During their arraignment today in Suffolk Superior Court, Clerk Magistrate Edward Curley ordered YUET CHOW (D.O.B. 9/9/63) and KIM CHOW (D.O.B. 9/18/48) each held on $500,000 bail – an amount previously set in Brighton Municipal Court. 

At their September arraignment Brighton Municipal Court in connection with the case, bail for the husband and wife was set at $1 million each; a judge later reduced that amount to $500,000.  Today’s arraignment moves the cases to Suffolk Superior Court, where they will be adjudicated.

Assistant District Attorney Lynn Feigenbaum told the court that Boston Police detectives assigned to the Human Trafficking Unit began an investigation into activity at 6 Haskell St. in Brighton after receiving 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. 

“We allege that the Haskell Street 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,” Conley said.

Interviews with men leaving the address indicated that each male had responded to an ad on Backpage.com and, through a series of texts and phone calls with a woman later identified as Yuet Chow, the men were given the Haskell Street address.  Upon arriving at the building, they were met by Chow and directed to a bedroom, where they exchanged cash for sexual conduct, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said that the Haskell Street house was leased under Kim Chow’s name and the rent was paid from the Chows’ joint bank account.  The investigation revealed that Kim Chow traveled from the couple’s West Roxbury home to the Haskell Street apartment at 8:00 a.m. each day and remained there until approximately 11:30 p.m., when the final client left, prosecutors said.

During the execution of search warrants in September, detectives located three young women at the Haskell Street address who had each traveled from New York City and were staying at the apartment for approximately 10 days, prosecutors said.  Searches at the Brighton location and the Chows’ home recovered ledgers, condoms, $20,000, and other evidence.

Kerry Kolditz is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate.  Yuet Chow was represented by Robert Sheketoff and Kim Chow by Carmine Lepore.  They return to court March 1.

–30–

All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.