Couple Sentenced For Keeping Disabled Woman In Shed And Selling Her For Sex

A Detroit couple was sentenced last week after hiring out a woman with physical and mental disabilities for sex after kicking her out of their home and forcing her to live in a shed.

Forty-year-old Michael Welch and 32-year-old Misty George of Macomb Township were charged in 2017 with human trafficking and prostitution-related counts.

Welch was sentenced Thursday to five to 20 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges including human trafficking.

George pleaded no contest to human trafficking and had agreed to testify against Welch. She was sentenced to five years of probation, with credit for more than a year in jail.

Authorities said the couple had initially been charging the 29-year-old victim rent to live in their mobile home, but eventually kicked her out after she was unable to pay and forced her to live in a shed, MLive reports.

The pair then used a website to advertise the woman online. Several men reportedly paid the couple to have sex with the victim.

Michael Welch Photo: Getty

The victim reportedly escaped from the couple and told her family, who contacted police, the Detroit Free Press reports.

Neighbors in the community were stunned by the charges against Welch and George.

“I’m still in shock,” neighbor Tracy Byers told local station WDIV. “They didn’t seem like they were that kind of people.”

According to the neighbors, the George and Welch have a 4-year-old daughter together. At the time of their 2017 arrest, it was reported that the pair had been dating.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.