PORTSMOUTH, Ohio (WKRC) — A long-time defense lawyer who was arrested for sex trafficking has been found dead.

Michael Mearan was accused of running the trafficking ring out of Portsmouth, where he was once a city councilman, for 15 years.

Dozens of women told Local 12's James Pilcher that Mearan lured them as a way to keep their drug habits going, and would send them around the country as prostitutes.

Mearan was 75 years old. His cause of death has not been released.