SPRING, Texas – A man and two women were charged following a lengthy investigation into two massage parlors that were reportedly involved in suspicious criminal activity, according the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office.
The suspects were identified as business owners, 57-year-old Shih Sheng Lin and 45-year-old Tuxiang Zhu, along with the property manager, 40-year-old Xiaoyan Yan Shi. They were arrested and charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution.
The suspects are being held on a $1,000,000 bond each.
The investigation started in July of 2022 with the help of the Fort Bend County Sheriff’s Office, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office, and the Houston Police Department.
Law enforcement reportedly received information on the two parlors, located in the 2000 Block of Rayford Road and 25500 Block of Interstate 45 South in Spring.
After the execution of multiple search warrants, Lin and Zhu were booked into the Fort Bend County Jail and Shi was booked into the Montgomery County Jail.
Additionally, there were foreign national women found on location being held for the purpose of engaging in sex crimes, commonly associated with human trafficking, according to deputies.
“This is big,” Michelle Tran, a case manager, focusing on human trafficking at BPSOS non-profit in Houston said.
Tran was there when investigators entered the business on Rayford Rd. advertised as a foot spa. She says the dark door concealed a disturbing secret.
“When I walk in there’s a kitchen, they sleep there with two beds and it was dirty,” she said.
Investigators say the suspects have ties to more than a dozen massage parlors throughout, Fort Bend, Harris and Montgomery County. The Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office says after a year long investigation— warrants were served and they found several foreign national women who were being held to engage in sex crimes, commonly associated with human trafficking.
“They were trained to say the same story,” Tran said. “Exact day and exact times. “None of them were allowed to keep their documents because I noticed we asked their name; their driver’s license and visa. They don’t have none of that, they show their visa and their name on the phone.”
She says they found condoms in the massage rooms and documents for plastic surgery.
“Some of them shaking when they talk,” she said. “Just shaking and some of them scared to look at my face.”
Tran says her office has worked on at least 20 human trafficking cases this year. The three suspects are being held on a $1 million bond. But Tran believes this could expand all the way to China.
Anyone with information relating to this investigation or these suspects are being asked to call the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office at 936-760-5800, press option 3 or call the Multi-County Crime Stoppers at 1-800-392-7867 and reference case # 22A202588.