COLUMBUS — Two women accused of operating a massage parlor where sexual acts allegedly were offered in exchange for money have been arrested before on prostitution allegations.
Feng Boa Zhang, 47, of Indianapolis, told a judge Wednesday she had been arrested in 2002 in Baltimore on a prostitution charge. Jing Huang, 41, of Chicago, said she had been arrested in June 2009 in Indianapolis on allegations of prostitution.
The charges in both cases were dismissed, the women said. The two are accused of operating Daily Spa at Eastbrook Plaza in Columbus.
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Brownsburg raid lands woman behind bars
Updated: Monday, 12 Mar 2012, 3:55 PM EDTPublished : Monday, 12 Mar 2012, 3:49 PM EDT
BROWNSBURG, Ind. (WISH) – An employee of the Relaxation Center in Brownsburg was arrested last week on charges of prostitution following an undercover sting on the business.
Brownsburg Police arrested Bo Ding, 39, for three Class A Misdemeanor counts of prostitution.
Police say they began to investigate the business after learning employees there were engaging in acts of prostitution and erotic massage.
The Town of Brownsburg has also taken action against the business owner, Xiao Rui Li, issuing a Notice of Zoning Violation that demands the business immediately cease operations.
“This case falls in the wake of the closing of another sexually oriented business that was ultimately closed in June 2011. After an arrest was made the Town sent Notice of Zoning Violations to the business and its owner. That business closed within ten days. It is unfortunate that these types of businesses exist at all, but they will certainly not be fruitful within this community,” Chief Michael Dove said.
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Massage Parlor Ordered Closed After Prostitution Arrest
Woman Arrested Last Week
POSTED: 3:46 pm EDT March 12, 2012
UPDATED: 4:18 pm EDT March 12, 2012
BROWNSBURG, Ind. — A Brownsburg massage parlor has been ordered to close after an employee was arrested on prostitution charges.
Brownsburg police began investigating the Relaxation Center at 20 Airport Road in December after reports of prostitution and erotic massages.
An undercover police sting revealed that at least one female employee had engaged in acts of prostitution under the guise of giving therapeutic massages, investigators said.
The employee, Bo Ding, 39, was arrested Tuesday on three counts of prostitution.
The owner of the business, Xaio Rui Li, of Indianapolis, was issued a notice of zoning violation for operating a “sexually oriented business” in a commercial district.
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Pair Accused in Spa Bust Say They’re Not Involved in Businesses
Two of the four people accused of operating two Columbus massage parlors that allegedly promoted prostitution denied owning the businesses. Our news gathering partners at “The Republic” report that during Thursday’s hearing before Bartholomew Circuit Court Judge Stephen Heimann, 58 year-old Stevan Hoob of Indianapolis denied owning the “Ping Spa” and 47 year-old Feng Boa Zhang of Indianapolis denied owning “Daily Spa”.
Hoob and Zhang, along with Hoob’s wife, 54 year-old Xiaoping Hoob, and 41 year-old Jing Huang, are each charged with one count of corrupt business influence, and three counts of failure to remit sales tax. All of these charges are felonies.
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But law enforcement and cab drivers will be on the lookout for something that typically stays in the shadows: sex trafficking.
Chicago Police Sgt. Traci Walker said police are monitoring several pimps’ Facebook accounts and many are talking about taking “their girls” down to Indianapolis. Walker and Erin Knowles, program manager of The Salvation Army’s STOP-IT Program, detailed various efforts to combat both sex and labor trafficking at a community discussion Wednesday night at Hobart Middle School.
Indianapolis cab drivers, as well as service employees in the city, have received special training on identifying potential victims of the commercial sex-trafficking industry. And a bill to toughen the penalties on sex traffickers is making its way through the Indiana General Assembly.
Walker said the sex trade lies just beneath the surface of purportedly legitimate businesses, such as massage parlors, acupuncture centers, spas, escort services, strip clubs and phone sex lines.
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… Our goal is to increase awareness that prostitution isn’t a victimless crime,” Zoeller claimed. “Many of these young women who enter the sex trade are often physically forced, coerced, raped or imprisoned by their traffickers.”
Trouble is, apparently all that force, coercion, rape and imprisonment is really, really well hidden.
“If they [police] know what to look for, what questions to ask, we’re hoping we can identify more victims and serve them,” said Abby Kuzma, director of the Attorney General’s Consumer Protection Office.
And if they can’t find “victims” to “serve,” they’ll do their best to create them. Just three days after the confab, the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police (with a Fox 59 News crew in tow) raided three massage parlors in Marion County, seizing massage tables, computers and arrested two women, neither of whom were minors, and neither of whom appeared to have been “trafficked.”
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The Circle City Super Bowl is expected to draw 70,000 fans and an additional 4,500 members of the media. And those 74,500 people will likely be carrying at least 75,000 cell phones. If every person with a cell phone cannot get access to a cell network, complaints will fly.
So Indianapolis officials are assessing just how much bandwidth they will need to make sure everyone at and around the game can talk and send data. Wireless carriers are working to expand and upgrade their systems in time for the Big Ten football championship on Dec. 3, which may well serve as a test of the system.
While technicians seek to make sure every cell phone works, law enforcement wants women engaging in the worlds oldest profession not to work, especially during Super Bowl week. After warning they planned a crackdown on prostitution, Indianapolis police raided four city massage parlors this week, and the investigations apparently go beyond prostitution to include human trafficking.
See the full article from “Fort Wayne Journal Gazette”
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indianapolis police have raided several massage parlors as part of an ongoing investigation into human trafficking. WRTV-TV reported (http://bit.ly/pGJQP9 ) police served search warrants on the massage parlors Monday. U.S. Immigration and Custom Enforcement spokeswoman Gail…
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Police Raid Massage Parlors In Human Trafficking Probe
Several Agencies Involved In Raids
POSTED: 1:02 pm EDT October 3, 2011
UPDATED: 4:52 pm EDT October 3, 2011
INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis police served several search warrants on Monday stemming from an ongoing investigation of human trafficking.
The warrants were served at what authorities described as so-called massage parlors, including a business called Foot Reflexology off U.S. 31, near Shelby Street and Southport Road.
Several agencies are involved in the investigation. Though most of the raids were in Marion County, there was also a search of an undisclosed business in Fishers, in Hamilton County.
Little information was released, but sources told 6News’ Rafael Sanchez that the raids were part of a crackdown on businesses involved in illicit activity, with possible ties to human trafficking.
…
It was not immediately known how many suspected massage parlors were raided.
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INDIANAPOLIS — Indianapolis police have raided several massage parlors as part of an ongoing investigation into human trafficking.
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