AN IRISH-AMERICAN attorney has been jailed alongside two sex traffickers after the pair sold him a 14-year-old girl to sexually abuse.
Brian P. Meehan was handed a 2-to-4 year sentence and eight years’ probation by a Philadelphia judge on Monday.
He pleaded guilty to statutory sexual assault, promoting prostitution of a minor, and corrupting the morals of a minor in Philadelphia and was also made to register as a sex offender.
His trial was told that Meehan’s young victim was forced to have sex with him in March 2012 inside the offices of Bishop, Dorfman, Lazaroff & Meehan, his former law firm in Philly.
The girl was sold for sex to some 20 strangers a week but was only able to identify Meehan as she remembered seeing his name on his office door, according to Metro USA.
Trafficker Robert Harris was handed a 14-to-28 year sentence and eight years’ probation after forcing the girl into prostitution, while his accomplice Shante Fenning was handed 6-to-12 years in jail and 10 years’ probation.
The court heard that Harris knew the victim, and was able to gain her trust and lure her into being sold for sex.
Bizarrely, a special holiday treat Meehan gave the victim – ‘Irish potato’ candies – led to the arrests of all three.
“One of the details the victim remembered is he offered her Irish potatoes. It was the first time she had had those candies,” prosecutor Meghan Goddard said.
“Through some other information … we determined one of the visits was the day before St. Patrick’s Day.
“Employees at the office confirmed Mrs. Meehan [Meehan’s wife] sent Irish potatoes to the firm every year.”
DNA testing confirmed that sperm found on Meehan’s office couch and rug belonged to the disgraced attorney.
Meehan also forced the victim to have sex in his 12th-floor conference room, bragging that “he liked younger girls" and that the youngest child he'd ever had sex with was just 12.
The victim was first reported missing in March 2012 after failing to return home from school, according to the grand jury presentment.
Harris and Fenning kept her captive at a property just blocks from her family home, while beating her and forcing her to have sex with strangers such as Meehan, who had previously represented the pair in a legal case.
The couple later sold the victim to another trafficker for $600 (£450) before she was later sent to a pimp in Georgia.
On one occasion while being treated by doctors the girl was found to have severe vaginal injuries, but left before police arrived at the hospital.
She was jailed for theft in May 2012 and was in custody for around two years before revealing the horrific abuse she suffered.
Police executed a search warrant on Meehan’s office on October 10, 2014 after the girl shared her information with investigators.
He was fired from his law firm later that day and had his law licence suspended by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court's disciplinary board in November.
