ICE Nabs Two Michigan Men for
Human Trafficking Scam

DETROIT, Michigan (ICE) — Two men were arrested by ICE special agents February 15 for forcing at least four women from the Ukraine to work as exotic dancers at a strip club.

According to the criminal complaint, Michail Aronov, 32, who is a citizen of Lithuania, and Aleksander Maksimenko, 25, a U.S. citizen, are suspected of recruiting women from the Ukraine to travel to the United States under the guise of working as waitresses here. Once the women arrived in the U.S., they were forced to work at “Cheetah’s” strip club.

The women were forced to work 12 hours per day, six days a week to pay off $12,000 in travel expenses and another $10,000 for identification documentation. The men took all of the money the women were paid by customers of the club as payment for these “expenses.” The complaint said two of the women had been forced to work since May. The other two were recruited as strippers overseas and arrived in the United States in September with their husbands. They have not seen or spoken to their husbands since their arrival.

The women were driven to their work from their apartment and back again. There was no telephone in their apartment. The complaint also states the women were intimidated, hit and threatened with death.