Woman: McDonald's at fault in prostitution

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LOS ANGELES, March 30 (UPI) -- A California woman has sued McDonald's USA and her ex-husband, who owns franchises of the restaurant, claiming he forced her into prostitution in Nevada.

Shelley Lynn alleged in the complaint that her ex-husband, Keith Handley, used his position as an employer to "economically and psychologically" push her into a prostitution ring run out of one of the McDonald's franchises he owned in the 1980s, KTLA-TV, Los Angeles reported Friday.

Handley hired Lynn to work at his McDonald's restaurant in Arroyo Grande, Calif., and they began dating in 1985. The two married in 1988, but later divorced, Lynn said.

In her complaint, Lynn said Handley bought her a house in Las Vegas so she could be a performer in a stage show, but later told her she "would have to go to work as a prostitute because Handley could not maintain both the Las Vegas home and his home in Arroyo Grande."

Lynn said McDonald's "failed to conduct a due diligence into the moral character of Handley when it sold franchises to him."