A resident of New York has confessed to his involvement in a prostitution operation that was operating out of massage parlors located in York County. Xiao Lin, a 54-year-old man from Queens, New York, pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution by renting a venue for such activity, a misdemeanor charge. The outcome of his plea resulted in a probation sentence.
Following the acceptance of his guilty plea, the serious felony charges related to organized crime and profiting from illegal activities were dropped by the prosecutors. Additionally, a high-level charge of managing a prostitution business was also waived off. The lesser count of promoting prostitution was assigned to him as a condition of this plea agreement.
In this case, symbolizing a significant breakthrough, Lin became the second out of seven accused individuals to plead guilty, and the third one to make a plea overall. He publicly admitted his association with the prostitution operation as the official documents stated that he invested in running Anna’s Spa, a massage parlor situated in a York Township shopping centre, in the summer of 2023.
Investigators targeted this particular establishment as one of the four massage spas in the county that were believed to be masquerading as prostitution venues. The additional names were Lisa’s Spa set in West Manchester Township, Amy’s Massage in Penn Township, and Springettsbury Township’s Ivy’s Spa.
Law enforcement authorities have identified a woman from Camp Hill called Min Dong as the key figure in the operation. Investigation papers suggested that she supervised the running of these parlors with her alleged daughter, Qi Guo, and maintained ownership of the properties and renewed the leases after transferring management roles to potential buyers.
Similar to Lin, three other individuals are confronted with charges pertaining to the same agreements to manage the different spas at varying times. It is alleged that Dong received a share of the profits from these establishments as part of their agreement, the charging documents state.
At a plea hearing, it was revealed that Lin became the owner of Anna’s Spa while county detectives were on the verge of concluding their investigation into this operation. A deputy attorney deemed Lin’s involvement to be fairly limited and restricted to about a month.
Lin defended his decision to sponsor prostitution at the spa by stating, ‘Since they had nowhere to stay, it was necessary for me to arrange accommodation for them.’ This statement was translated from Mandarin by an interpreter. His lawyer further added that Lin did not take adequate measures to prevent the prostitution activities in his building.
Following Lin’s guilty plea, the judge decreed a probation period of one year plus judicial costs. At the time of the hearing, Lin had been released on an unsecured bail of $100,000.
Prior to Lin’s plea, a no-contest plea had been entered by Dong to the serious felony charges of running organized crime, profiting from illegal activities, and promoting prostitution in December. Additionally, Yinmei Zeng pleaded guilty in December to two counts of promoting prostitution under sections of transporting sex workers and managing a prostitution venue.
The case is not yet closed for Qi Guo, aged 32, residing either in Camp Hill or New York City, whose hearing at the court, coinciding with Lin’s, has been deferred for four months. Guo, along with Dong, is also facing charges of human trafficking and promoting prostitution.
Individuals under accusation and the case proceedings have accumulated from a seven-month-long investigation into the four local spas during 2023. Legal documents contain evidence such as financial records, property deeds, and personal earnings, linking Dong and Guo, as well as the five other co-accused parties to the businesses.
A witness, unidentified yet not charged in this case, claimed to have collaborated with Dong in setting up and operating Anna’s Spa and Ivy’s Spa in shopping centers located in York and Springettsbury townships back in 2022. His involvement extended to opening bank accounts, signing uncashed checks and performing maintenance duties.
Another witness, who is also not charged and not identified in the papers, supposedly informed investigators about accepting $700 from Dong for providing accommodation to several women from Lisa’s Spa in his Fairview Township home for around three weeks during the year 2023.
Casualties of the case have been seven defendants, each of whom was charged between the months of November 2023 and January 2024. Xiao Lin was one of the final to be indicted. Apart from him, Dong, Guo, and Zeng, three other defendants namely Xianqiong Zhao, Shiqing Liu, and Jie Zhou, all based in Queens, New York, are confronting charges of participation in organized crime, engaging in prostitution, attempting to profit from illegal activities and partaking in conspiracies.