The Polk County Sheriff’s Office reported that 21 women from 12 different Asian massage parlors had been detained for prostitution-related offenses.
Undercover investigators from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office Vice Unit conducted a two-day operation starting on Monday, November 4.
According to the PCSO, undercover officers visited several massage parlors in Davenport, Dundee, Lakeland, and Winter Haven to purchase legal massages from registered massage therapists.
During the sessions, 20 people offered to engage in sexual acts for money.
According to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, one of the suspects, Jinxia Huang, assaulted the undercover officer after he declined her advances.
“We want our communities to be safe and free from illegal activities, and criminals who take advantage of people. These arrests are part of our ongoing efforts to hold those who break the law accountable. We’re focused on keeping our neighborhoods safe, and we’ll keep cracking down on businesses that operate outside the law,” Sheriff Grady Judd said.
According to PCSO, Xiu Lin was apprehended outside the parlor for resisting arrest due to interfering, while another investigator arrested another person for prostitution.
The accused were apprehended in the following locations:
- Xi Xi Spa, 7554 Cypress Gardens Boulevard
- New Coast Spa, 28079 U.S. Hwy 27
- Queen Day Spa, 1947 21st Street Northwest
- Health Asian Massage, 1222 6th Street Northwest
- Shangrila Massage, 1134 1st Street South
- New Oriental Massage, 6000 Lucerne Park Road
- Top Oasis Spa. 1975 East Edgewood Drive
- I-Spa Massage, 1114 Mayflower Drive
- Ocean Massage Star, 127 Alamo Drive East
- Lucky Asian Massage, 3234 South Florida Avenue
- Eastern Massage, 105 Allamanda Drive
- Sun Spa, 110 Polo Park East
Two of the ladies, Rose Wang Walker and Baohua Zhang, informed officers that they owned their businesses.
News Channel 8 questioned the sheriff about who owned the parlors.
“That’s under investigation as well and we’re not releasing everything that we know in this point in time in the investigation but when they say they own the spa, that even puts them in a more precarious position,” said Sheriff Judd.
The sheriff stated that all of the women were here legally from China. A handful were American citizens, but the vast majority were here on work visas.
Sheriff Judd stated that he wants their visas revoked as a result of their arrests.
“We believe they’re on a circuit. We believe they either individually, on their own move from area to area as the heat turns up on them or maybe there’s a more organized structure,” said Sheriff Judd.
According to the Polaris Project, there are over 9,000 illegal massage parlors throughout the country.
Many of the employees are victims of human trafficking.
“We audit these massage parlors to make sure they comply with the law but that is a secondary concern. None of these talked about human trafficking,” said Sheriff Judd.
According to the sheriff, the incident is still being investigated.