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New Information On Local Massage Parlor Raids
POSTED: 11:25 am EDT May 21,
2008
UPDATED: 5:54 pm EDT May 21,
2008
RICHMOND, Indiana -- Local and federal authorities busted two massage parlors in Richmond, Ind., Tuesday, as part of a three-state investigation. Now, News Center 7 is learning that there is more about what was allegedly going on inside those businesses, the Apple Spa and the Sunshine Spa.Richmond police and immigration officers took four women into custody Tuesday. We have learned that two of them have been released.We also know that the two other women, who worked at the Sunshine Spas, are here in this country illegally. Police say they are likely victoms of an international human trafficking ring.Authorities said they foudn thousands of dollars in cash at both locations. In addition, they found postal receipts for money orders and addresses to places all over the United States and Korea.Investigators said that's because these businesses were sending money orders all over the world as part of this alleged international human trafficking operation.Here's how it works. Police said the operators of the ring agree to bring women from Korea to the United States, with promises of a better life. But once the women arrive, they are suddenly told that they owe a large debt and they are forced to work off that debt in the massage parlors.One women we spoke with who worked in a business next door to one of the massage parlors, said she suspected that some of the women were actually living there.Police said Wednesday, another part of the operation involved shuffling the women around from place to place between 19 massage parlors.
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