CHICAGO, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Authorities in Chicago have charged three people with sex trafficking involving underage girls, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.
Iowa City residents Malik McKee,19, his 23-year-old sister Shuntina and Willie Woods, 41, of Toledo, Ohio, have been arrested on charges of conspiracy to transport minors across state lines to engage in prostitution, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The trio is accused of acting as pimps to three underage Iowa girls whom they allegedly forced across state lines to engage in prostitution in Chicago.
The charges are the result of an investigation that began in April when the mother of a 14-year-old Iowa girl told Chicago Police her daughter had called her from a hotel in Chicago.
The government is seeking to have all three defendants transferred to Chicago. The McKees were arrested in Iowa City while Woods was apprehended in Ohio, the Tribune said.
Sex-trafficking of minors carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum sentence of life in prison on conviction.
