BOSTON — A woman accused of selling foster kids for sex on the weekends has been indicted on charges after a Boston 25 News investigation in May.
Ashley Goodrich, 27, was indicted Thursday on charges of trafficking a minor for sexual servitude and related prostitution of a minor charges.
Goodrich has been accused of using runaway foster kids as prostitutes and advertising sexual servitude online while working for Eliot Community Human Services in Saugus.
The group home in Saugus has since been closed and Goodrich was terminated from the company.
"This is a serious matter," Attorney General Maura Healey said. "My office investigated this. This is an extremely disturbing and terrible situation and story. A young girl was trafficked into the care of and custody of a worker."
MORE: 25 Investigates: Cops say sex traffickers sell foster kids on the weekends
Records obtained by 25 Investigates earlier this year reveal a female staff member working with foster kids at the Eliot Atlantic House in Saugus is suspected of convincing a then 16-year-old girl at the group home to sell herself for sex on the weekends.
"This was a girl who was vulnerable to begin with, then was exploited," Healey said. "This is a situation in where a person who was taking care of a young person was the one who facilitating the human trafficking. Setting up sexual encounters and trafficking young girls."
That staff member told the foster child she “had a way they could make money together,” according to the report obtained by 25 Investigates.
The girl told investigators the staff member took her to Worcester three times and once to Boston “to have sex with unknown men for money” on the weekends.
As shocking as this case sounds, police tell 25 Investigates they see this kind of thing too often.
This case is being handled through the Massachusetts Attorney General’s Human Trafficking Division, which focuses on policy, prevention and criminal prosecutions. Through that division, the AG’s Office has charged more than 40 individuals in connection with human trafficking since the law went into effect in 2012.
MORE: Missing and Forgotten: Thousands of foster kids kicked out of the system
Goodrich will be arraigned at a later date, and the Attorney General's office says the investigation is not over yet.
Cox Media Group
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