How McDonald’s Turned a Woman Into a Prostitute at the Chicken Ranch

Somehow working at McDonald’s 30 years ago led one woman to a life as a prostitute in Pahrump, according to a lawsuit filed in California.

Shelley Lynn is claiming that her ex-husband and former boss Keith Handley, who hired her to work the counter 30 years ago at McDonald’s, “forced her termination to make her more vulnerable to his demands.”

She is suing Handley, his restaurant company Ivernia and McDonald’s in California Central District Court. Lynn says she “was at the mercy of a company that provided no protections for female employees against predatory bosses.”

The couple started dating in 1985, three years after she started working at the Arroyo Grande, Calif., fast food chain. Soon after, he terminated her. That’s when Lynn says she was down on her luck and Handley offered to help her fulfill a dream to become a Las Vegas dancer. While he bought her a house in Vegas, “He told her she’d have to get a job as a prostitute in one of the legal brothels to pay for it.”

That’s when she took a job in Pahrump at the Chicken Ranch to become what she calls a “top booker,” sleeping with as many as 12 men a night.

In another twist, the couple married in 1988 only to divorce soon after.

Lynn seeks lost wages, special damages, compensatory damages and punitive damages for sex trafficking, negligent retention and supervision of franchisees, and racketeering.
· ‘McDonald’s Made Me a Prostitute:’ Woman Sues Fast-Food Giant for Turning Her into a Vegas Working Girl [NY Daily News]
Chicken Ranch [Photo: Wikipedia]