Man who kept mentally and physically disabled woman in a shed and sold her for sex online is jailed for up to 20 years - but his co-conspirator girlfriend gets away with probation
- Michael Welch, 40, has been sentenced to between five and 20 years in jail for keeping a disabled woman in a shed and hiring her out for sex online
- He pleaded guilty to human trafficking and accepting earnings from prostitution
- His former girlfriend, Misty George, 32, was also involved in the scheme, and was sentenced to five years probation
- The pair's crimes were discovered in September 2017, when the victim managed to escape and make contact with relatives
A Michigan man will spend up to two decades behind bars for keeping a disabled woman in a shed and hiring her out for sex via online classifieds.
Michael Welch, 40, was sentenced Thursday to between five and 20 years in jail after pleading guilty to human trafficking and accepting earnings from prostitution. He was given credit for 589 days already served.
Meanwhile, his co-conspirator and former girlfriend, Misty George, 32, was let off on probation after she agreed to testify against Welch.
She was given five years probation, with credit for 422 days of prison time.
In October 2017, Welch and George were charged with keeping a 29-year-old woman in a shed behind their mobile home in Macomb Township, north of Detroit.
The pair advertised dates with the victim - who suffers from physical and mental disabilities - on Craigslist between August and September 2017.
Michael Welch (left) and Misty George (right) were sentenced on Thursday after they were charged with keeping a disabled woman in a shed and hiring her out for sex
The 29-year-old victim was kept in this shed near the couple's mobile home in Macomb Township, north of Detroit
Several of the dates fell through, but they took money from one man who twice paid to have sex with her.
Welch and George's crimes were only discovered when the victim managed to leave the mobile home park and speak with relatives who subsequently contacted authorities.
The victim initially met Welch and George when she rented out a room in their mobile home in mid 2017.
Welch and George had initially taken in the special-needs woman into their home (front right)
She paid $360 in food stamps and $75 in cash the first month and was to pay $400 per month after that.
However, she was moved to the nearby shed when she forfeited on the rent that the couple demanded.
At the time of the couple's arrest it was reported that the victim was not allowed in the couple's trailer to use the restroom or shower.
Back in October 2017, Tracy Byers, a close friend and neighbor of Welch and George, told WXYZ she was shocked to learn of the allegations against the pair, claiming that there had been no red flags that something suspicious was afoot.
'To find out that she was keeping somebody in a shed, how does somebody not know? I don't understand it,' Byers said.
Other neighbors said George herself was a woman with special needs and that her underemployed boyfriend had been living off of her disability checks.
The couple share a four-year-old daughter together.
Neighbors said George herself (left)was a woman with special needs and that her underemployed boyfriend (right) had been living off of her disability checks
