Tyrell Gorham, Sex Trafficking of a Minor, MA 2024

BOSTON — A 31-year-old man from Lewiston, Maine, was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison yesterday for orchestrating the sex trafficking of a minor, part of a sordid scheme that dragged a young girl into prostitution across state lines. Tyrell Gorham, a/k/a Sheek, admitted to recruiting the underage victim from Maine and forcing her into commercial sex acts in the Greater Boston area.

Gorham wasn’t alone. Lee Young, a/k/a Chop, 34, of Dorchester, Mass., received an eight-year sentence, while Chelanjei Greene, a/k/a Young, 34, of Brockton, Mass., was handed six years — both for conspiring to sex traffic the minor. Each man was also sentenced to five years of supervised release following their prison terms. The three pleaded guilty on September 21, 2016, closing a disturbing chapter in a case rooted in exploitation and greed.

The operation unraveled during a February 2015 undercover sting, when law enforcement identified the victim through a fake ad posted on Backpage.com. Gorham and Young transported the minor and a friend to Boston under false pretenses. With Greene’s assistance, they advertised the girls for paid sex. The victim was sent to a Woburn motel to meet a ‘client’ — who was actually an undercover federal agent.

“Sex traffickers routinely target the young and most vulnerable in our communities,” said Carmen M. Ortiz, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts. “I hope that these sentences send a strong message that the federal government will use all of the tools at its disposal to investigate and prosecute these predators.”

Harold H. Shaw, Special Agent in Charge of the FBI’s Boston Field Division, condemned the trio’s actions: “These individuals preyed on a child with the intent of forcing the victim into a life of prostitution. They sought to victimize society’s most vulnerable for their own financial gain.”

The investigation was led by the FBI’s Boston Child Exploitation Task Force, with critical support from the Boston Police Department’s Child Abuse and Human Trafficking Units, the Arlington, Malden, Norwood, Revere, Saugus, Woburn, and Brockton Police Departments, and the Massachusetts State Police Human Trafficking Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Moran and Emily Cummings prosecuted the case.