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A Salt Lake City man suspected of operating an alleged prostitution ring through a series of Asian massage parlors has been arrested and booked into jail following a months-long investigation by state, federal and local law enforcement, the Utah Attorneys General's Office said in a Wednesday news release.
Changfeng Lin, 35, was booked into the Weber County jail on Tuesday after agents from the attorney general's SECURE Strike Force executed search warrants on 11 businesses, three homes and four cars at locations in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties.
Lin is being held on suspicion of exploiting a prostitute, a third-degree felony, and pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony. Bail is set at $15,700, jail records show.
No formal criminal charges have been filed and Lin could not be reached for comment.
A probable cause statement filed with the jail says that over the course of a 10-month investigation, Lin was seen going in and out of eight different Asian massage parlors, sometimes traveling with young Asian women who also entered the businesses.
Older males were also seen frequenting the businesses for periods of 30 to 90 minutes, the documents states.
State licensing records tie Lin to four of the eight properties, many of which, according to jail documents, are listed on the Internet site rubmaps.com, which reviews Asian massage parlors that offer sex acts in exchange for money.
One of the other facilities is licensed to Michael Lin, an alias used by Lin, and others are registered to women who work for Lin, jail papers say.
Under questioning by police on Tuesday, Lin said he derives all of his income from the cash-only businesses and that he advertises the services through Internet-based classified advertising sites.
Lin also said he keeps numerous apartments along the Wasatch Front and moves the women who work for him from location to location as needed, jail papers say. He told police he placed ads for masseuses online and in Asian newspapers, including papers in New York and Los Angeles, in order to get the women to work for him.
It wasn't immediately clear on Wednesday whether the women knew they would be expected to perform sex acts while working for Lin.
Tuesday's sweep of Lin's businesses also put investigators in contact with nine women— identified in the documents only by their initials — who were working for Lin, including his wife, and several customers.
Jail papers say the women identified Lin as their boss and said they have performed sex acts for money.
One of the women, whose name appears on one of the massage parlor businesses licenses, expressed her fear of Lin and said she was forced to put her name on the license.
Customers who spoke with investigators both in person and online also confirmed that they had paid for sex at the each of Lin's massage parlors.
Only one of the women who spoke to investigators on Tuesday was arrested, said Missy Larsen, spokeswoman for the attorney general's office. Several males customers were also cited for soliciting prostitution, Larsen said Wednesday, although she did not have specific numbers.
Jail documents say Lin told police he had been in Utah only a few years and previously lived in California and China. Lin said he has no relatives in Utah and his wife is not a U.S. citizen.
The investigation began as a result of information about alleged sex trafficking that was provided to an Ogden Police Department agent assigned to the SECURE Strike Force. The investigation was conducted in partnership with the Utah Department of Public Safety, along with federal, county and city law enforcement agencies, Larsen said.