6 Seattle residents charged with operating prostitution services out of massage parlors -...

[massage]

SEATTLE — An investigation of various spas and massage parlors around Seattle resulted in charges filed Monday against two men and four women in connection with operating prostitution services, according to the King County Prosecutor's Office.

Over the past four years, Seattle Police Department's VICE/High Risk Victims Unit inspected 21 businesses throughout King County after receiving multiple complaints of prostitution in massage parlors.

Xinzhong Wang, 67; Liuzhen Mou, 63; Ran Feng, 25; Wei Zhang, 49; Xiaohua Jiang, 31; and Lina Wang, 41, were charged with total of 12 counts of second-degree prostitution promotion through 10 businesses that offered sexual services authorities said in the investigation report were linked to the suspects. They found prostitution was occurring at all spas and massage parlors being investigated.

Investigators found 16 of the businesses associated with postings on "backpage.com," a site VICE detectives said in the report was known for listing and soliciting prostitution.

The massage parlors were advertising in the "adult services" section of the site until it was removed in January 2017. The parlors then began to advertise under the "dating" and "services" sections, respectively under the sub-sections "women seeking men" and "massage."

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Almost all of the ads for each listed site featured nearly-nude Asian women in poses that the report said was inconsistent with "therapeutic massage businesses."

Neighbors living above one of the parlors started to notice the suspicious activity of men going in and out of the parlors at odd hours.

"It got our attention the wrong way," said one neighbor who didn't want to identified. "It happened downstairs, I'm still in shock, it's crazy, I was hoping it wouldn't be the case but now that it is, it's like it's even worse."

"I saw the police van come in and take these women," said the neighbor. "My first thought was, 'holy crap something really is going on,' but it seemed like they were really there for the women and protective, so a part of me was relieved."

Most of the businesses were also located on "rubmaps.com," a site that works as a review board for massage parlors and spas that "may or may not" provide prostitution services. Most of the reviews for the businesses included anecdotes of the sexual services customers received.

While not all of the businesses received reviews, detectives said they went to the ones that didn't and received offers and agreements for sexual services in exchange for money.

Surveillance of Xinzhong Wang and Mou started after detectives received offer and agreements of sexual services for money at Touch of Class Spa. They were alleged to be living inside of it at 2227 4th Ave. S. Every morning, they were observed taking woman out of the building and driving them to other spas. They'd be dropped back off after midnight.

Nine spas and massage parlors were connected to the two by records from the Washington State Department of Revenue, according to the report. They were listed as "governing people."

Xinzhong Wang's Toyota Sienna van was tracked for several months and revealed him taking repeated trips to Sea-Tac International Airport. Detectives were able to match these trips with surveillance footage of him picking up and dropping off woman at the airport.

GPS data indicated he was dropping woman off at massage parlors immediately after picking them up from the airport.

He and Mou were both observed transporting women from businesses to and from an apartment where the report said "as many as seven women were living." In an interview after he was arrested, he said six women paid him $360 a month each to live in one room in Henan Spa at 416 8th Ave. S.

One of the women interviewed by detectives said she worked six days a week, from 10 a.m. to 11 p.m. and was ignored several times after customers sexually assaulted her on the job.

Xinzhong Wang was booked into jail on Feb. 28 with $250,000 bail and is charged with six counts of promoting prostitution and one count of money laundering. He told detectives Mou moved back to China in 2017 because her husband was sick. She was charged with one count of each crime with a bond set at $25,000.

Investigations of Zhang, Feng and Jiang began in May 2016 after checks of the Department of Licensing and Revenue linked them with several massage parlors throughout Seattle.

Similar to Mou and Xinzhong Wang, these three were observed through surveillance transporting women from a house to multiple massage parlors.

Through licensing and revenue records, Zhang and Jiang were revealed as owning multiple spas, massage parlors and apartments associated with prostitution during surveillance. Feng was named as a manager of at least one of the spas, the report said.

Detectives also found out through Zhang's apartment manager, that multiple women lived in his apartment. Seattle Fire Department confirmed it after finding two rooms with locks on the outside of the doors. Mattresses and women's clothing were in both rooms.

Feng and Jiang were booked into jail Feb. 28 on $250,000 and $125,000 bail, respectively. Jiang was released Saturday. Zhang was booked into jail Friday on $250,000 bail. All three were charged with three counts of promoting prostitution and one count of money laundering.

Lina Wang was identified as the owner of two spas according to the report. She was arrested on Feb. 28 after surveillance footage over the past year showed her picking up women at the airport and driving them to spas. Her bail was set at $250,000.

All six have an arraignment scheduled for March 18.

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Read the story on SeattlePI.com.

KOMO News has a content sharing agreement with the Seattle PI.

SeattlePI reporter Alex Halverson can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @AlexHalversonPI.

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