DA: Massage parlor operators sent to prison in sex-slave investigation
A 51-year-old man, Rui Wang, and a 47-year-old woman, Junhua Wu, were the focus of a human-trafficking investigation conducted by the Anderson Police Department starting in February 2019.
A tip led police to a massage parlor in Anderson where clients paid for sexual acts, according to the Shasta County District Attorney’s Office.
The eight-month investigation expanded to eight massage parlors in Shasta, Tehama and Butte counties associated with Wang’s and Wu’s criminal operation, as described on the DA’s Facebook page.
In July, Wang pleaded guilty to one count of pandering, three counts of money laundering and one count of filing fraudulent tax returns from 2015 to 2019. On Tuesday, he was sentenced to eight years and eight months in state prison.
Also in July, Wu pleaded guilty to one count of acquiring a prostitute, one count of money laundering and one count of submitting fraudulent tax returns from the same time period of 2015 to 2019. She received a state prison sentence of two years and eight months.
Both Wang and Wu will be required to register as sex offenders for 10 years after they’re released from prison, the DA’s office said.
The California Franchise Tax Board helped in the investigation. As part of their sentence, the pair were ordered to pay about $1.5 million in restitution.
Anderson Police Chief Michael Johnson announced the pair’s arrests in March. Police said the women at the massage parlors were expected to perform sex acts “from the time they wake up until the time they go to sleep.”
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Johnson described the women as indentured servants, or sex slaves, who were tricked into moving to the North State by Wang and Wu, two Chinese nationals who were living in Chico.
The Shasta County DA’s office originally filed 58 felony charges against the pair.
The investigation started at Relax Massage in Anderson and spread to the other parlors that included three in Redding, two in Chico, one in Oroville and one in Red Bluff.
Investigators identified six potential victims who were Chinese women ranging in age from their 20s to 50s or 60s.
"They're promised prosperity. They're promised freedom. They're promised a future," detective Jacob Duncan said at the time. "When they come here, they're stripped of their passports … and expected to perform sex acts."
The detective said the women were living out of the massage parlors. Typically they didn’t speak English very well and lacked money, had no transportation and didn’t have local family or friends.
The women were offered help with housing, relocation, health screenings and immigration assistance, police said.
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Record Searchlight reporter Matt Brannon contributed to this report.
Mike Chapman is a reporter and photographer for the Record Searchlight in Redding, Calif. His newspaper career spans Yreka and Eureka in Northern California and Bellingham, Wash. Follow him on Twitter @mikechapman_RS. Subscribe today!
https://www.redding.com/story/news/2020/08/19/da-massage-parlor-operators-sent-prison-sex-slave-operation/5614057002/