Man allegedly used drugs to enslave women

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CHICAGO, Feb. 2 (UPI) -- A Chicago-area man has been charged with running a "sex trafficking house of horrors" where women were forced to work as prostitutes.

Charges were announced Friday against Keith Williams, 52, of Schiller Park, Ill., Roman Kurek, 49, who allegedly drove Williams' victims to work, and Sylvia Topolewski, 37, who allegedly kept the other women in line while working as a prostitute herself, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Bail was set at $650,000 for Williams and $350,000 for Kurek and Topolewski. All three are charged with involuntary servitude.

Anita Alvarez, the Cook County state's attorney, said Williams, who used the name "Shampoo," would get women hooked on drugs and then use their addiction to force them to work for him.

"What started out as a standard investigation into drugs and prostitution quickly evolved into something which was much more complex," she said at a news conference. "Keith Williams was the chief operating officer of a sex trafficking house of horrors, providing the sexual services and drug-addicted women to countless numbers of paying customers and collecting all of the significant cash profits for himself and his associates."

Alvarez said the charges followed an eight-month investigation involving Schiller Park police and other agencies.