Plan for westerly wind gusts over 40 mph at times. ABC7 β Montgomery County Police have filed charges against 20 men who allegedly admitted to receiving sexual massage services in exchange for money. The men β who hail from three different states, plus DC β range in age from 22 to They include a real estate agent, mortgage broker, pharmacist, commander in the U. On multiple days, officers conducted undercover surveillance outside of the massage parlor.
Police stopped 75 male customers during the course of their investigation. Police note that one of those men, Edward A. Benchoff, 37, of the Alexandria section of Fairfax County, pulled up to the spa in a white Porsche Cayenne. Officers stopped Benchoff as he exited the strip mall parking lot around an hour later. No mugshots are available as police issued the men district court summonses instead of arrest warrants.
Many of the men have already retained private defense attorneys. Back in July, authorities charged the owner of Rose's Spa, Emily Zhang Lawrence, 47, of Germantown, with five criminal counts including human trafficking and operating a prostitution business. Lawrence is currently out on bond and scheduled for a five-day trial in early February.
She faces up to 41 years in prison. Investigators believe the spa recruited its masseuses β all Chinese immigrants β from Flushing, New York. The Queens neighborhood is known for being a hub for the human trafficking of Asian women.
Rose's Spa had a 3. One public reviews states, in part:. They got straight to his service," Yelp user "Love D. Montgomery Co.
