WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — Law enforcement officers arrested three women this week in connection with a multi-agency, sexual trafficking sting that has spanned months.
Contact 5’s crime investigator Merris Badco*ck dug deeper into this case and discovered an illicit massage website that helped tip off Jupiter Police Department detectives, a clean public record for one of the illicit massage parlors and a trash pull that didn’t require a warrant but got key evidence in building the case.
RUBMAPS.COM
Looking for a “happy ending” massage? A website called rubmaps.com promises to hook up customers with these illegal services.
WPTV found Jupiter Police Department detectives used the site to help build a case against Hua Zhang, a woman arrested in connection to a sex-trafficking sting spanning numerous counties.
According to Zhang’s arrest paperwork (WARNING: POLICE REPORT CONTAINS GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS), rubmaps.com is a “forum based website which allows customers … to discuss their individual experiences at illicit massage parlors.”
Contact 5 checked out the site. You have to be at least 18 years old to enter, but anyone can click a button and gain access.
WPTV search West Palm Beach and found more than a handful of day spa options. It is unclear if any of the places listed actually gave customers sex on top of massages, but they are posted there with reviews.
Orchids of Asia Day Spa, one of the massage parlors at the center of the recent multi-agency, sex trafficking bust, is on the website. The spa's review shows table showers are offered, however if you want to actually read reviews, you have to subscribe to the site.
In Zhang’s arrest paperwork, Jupiter Police Detective Andrew Sharp wrote “under the name Orchids of Asia Day Spa, several posting were located from February 2015 to March 2018. The postings detailed visits involving Asian females providing sexual acts, as well as massage/body rubs in exchange for payment.”
Sharp wrote the business operated from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., but investigators saw clients coming in and out of the business after hours too.
WHO FILED THE INITIAL COMPLAINT?
According to the public information officer for the Martin County Department of Health (DOH), investigators with their agency do not normally investigate salons, unless they produce “biomedical waste” -- typical of spas who provide services like botox.
Public information officer Renay Rouse said she could find no evidence that Martin County DOH investigators checked on these businesses or filed a complaint.
WPTV has put in calls to the Martin County Sheriff’s Office and the state Department of Health to see if they can clarify this for us.
In the meantime, anyone can look up a massage parlor’s license online by clicking here.
We search for Orchids of Asia Day Spa and found records of discipline or public complaints on file. The spa appeared to have a clean public record despite the fact that the women running the place was arrested by Jupiter police.
WPTV has put in calls and are working our sources to get more answers as to how a business like this can have a clean public record.
TRASH PULL
Once you put your trash on the curb, it’s fair game to Florida law enforcement agencies. That means they do not need a warrant to go through your trash.
According to arrest paperwork, that is exactly what Jupiter police detectives did while surveilling Orchids of Asia Day Spa.
In court records, detectives wrote that when they conducted a “trash pull” in the back of Orchids of Asia Day Spa, they found ripped pieces of paper inside a grocery bag.
When they pieced them together, they found a spreadsheet with columns for “name, service, add time, amount, in, out, cash, card, cert./pre-paid, card tip and other.”
One sheet listed the name of an alleged sex worker “Lulu”, her alleged client “Dan”, and the last four digits, allegedly, of Dan’s credit card.
They also found wet napkins covered with male DNA.
Investigators will be forced to prove in court that the trash came from Orchids of Asia Day Spa, but what they pulled is considered evidence. It can help officers get the search warrants they need to continue surveillance.
Copyright 2019 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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