Child services worker recruited women to work as prostitutes, investigators say

DELAWARE COUNTY, Pa. — A New Jersey woman tasked with overseeing the well-being of children in state care is accused of recruiting a mother of foster children to work as a prostitute, investigators said.

Candace Talley, 27, who worked in New Jersey’s Children and Youth Services, is alleged to have recruited multiple women to work as prostitutes, the Delaware County District Attorney Office said. She would shuttle them to jobs, receiving 25% of the money they earned as part of an extensive prostitution ring.

Talley promised the mother in a case she managed that she would falsify drug tests and ensure a favorable recommendation regarding the placement of the woman’s children, officials said.

“It is truly horrible, and beyond imagination, that someone who is responsible for ensuring the welfare of children would pressure their mother into acts of prostitution for her own personal enrichment, and with the promise of a favorable custody recommendation, as this defendant is charged with doing,” District Attorney Jack Stollsteimer said in a statement.

Talley was arrested and charged with human trafficking, promoting prostitution and related charges, according to the District Attorney Office.

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