The lone employee of a massage parlor on the northside of Scottsburg was charged with prostitution and false informing by Scottsburg police following an investigation that began in April.
Cai-Yun Zheng, 57, of the 700 block of North Gardner Street has been charged with two counts of prostitution after undercover police officers made visits to Energy Spa in the Montwood Shopping Center and reported being offered sexual services in addition to a massage.
Scottsburg Chief of Police Steven Herald began an investigation in late April when he received a tip from an anonymous FedEx driver reporting suspected human trafficking at the business believing that employees were living inside the building.
According to the probable cause affidavit, a prior undercover visit found only one older female employee who did not speak English and communicated through Google Translate. At that visit, Herald reported no sexual services were offered or discussed and his observation was that she was working alone.
In June the Scottsburg City Hall received an anonymous letter alleging illegal sexual activity at Energy Spa and requested an investigation by authorities.
According to the court document, the letter contained online reviews from May through October last year claiming that employees exchanged sexual acts for money.
In June an undercover detective with the Indianapolis Police Department entered the Montwood Massage business to gather information about the business under the ruse of scheduling an appointment.
The undercover officer reported an immediate and obvious lack of standard procedures associated with legitimate massage therapy businesses. He noted that legitimate massage therapy businesses require a “Confidential Health Questionaire” to identify injuries, prior surgeries and pre-existing medical conditions. Additionally there was a lack of “Needs Assessment: to discuss the purpose and goals of the massage.
The undercover officer reported that when he entered the door of the business he was met by an Asian female who didn’t speak English, took the officer by the hand to lead him directly into the massage room. When he declined to enter the room, she produced a cell phone with a translation app. The detective explained he only wanted to set an appointment.
Later in July another out-of-area detective with 23 years experience conducting sex trade investigations went undercover entering the business when the same Asian female took him to a massage room and began a massage.
According to the probable cause, she indicated she would provide sexual services by pointing to her mouth for $120 for massage and oral sex, The undercover officer declined claiming he did not have the money with him and left after a 30 minute massage for which he paid $40.
On August 6 the undercover officer returned to the Energy Spa and was met by the same non-English speaking woman. After beginning the massage the woman the indicated with a closed fist and up and down motion that she would perform a sexual act on him for $40 or oral sex for $115.
The detective declined and left paying just for the massage.
That same day Scottsburg Police Chief Herald obtained a search warrant for the business.
When he served the search warrant he was joined by Officer Benjamin Moyer of the Battleground (IN) Police Department who speaks Chinese. Moyars spoke with the woman who identified herself as Cai-Yun Zheng.
Zheng explained she came from Taiwan to make money to send to her husband, child ad brother who has cancer.
Zheng said she saw an ad for massage spa worker for the Scottsburg store on WeChat and had an Uber driver bring her to Scottsburg, She said her work in Scottsburg is on commission and she got to keep half on the money, according to the court document.
She claimed to have been in Scottsburg only two days despite undercover police identifying her for months earlier. Zheng denied any sexual acts or propositioning sexual acts.
During the search of the business police uncovered a Taiwanese passport, $3,646 in US currency, 2,070 denominations of a foreign currency, a large bag of unused condoms and a container of used condoms.
Zheng told officers that she does not know who her boss is and that he sends people to Scottsburg to pick up money. The woman also stated that her boss has access to the video surveillance feed at the business.
Zheng was booked into Scott County Jail on Thursday, Aug. 6, at 7:11 p.m. on two misdemeanor counts of prostitution and false informing. She remains incarcerated on a $10,000 full cash bond.
