A Lafayette massage parlor targeted in a police sting operation has ties to a Denham Springs massage parlor that was similarly closed after a police investigation uncovered prostitution.
One woman was arrested Tuesday on a count of soliciting for prostitution at MK Foot Relax after the Lafayette Police Department received information prostitution and drug transactions were taking place at the Arnould Boulevard massage parlor, Lafayette Police spokesperson Sgt. Robin Green said in a statement.
Lt. Kent Goolsby, who helped lead the case, said a tip was sent to the department Aug. 11 and to several other officials in the city, including the mayor-president’s office and a councilmember, that raised concerns about the business.
After an initial investigation, which turned up evidence including backpage-like online advertisements that heavily alluded to illicit sexual services, the narcotics unit organized a sting, he said.
An undercover officer went to the business on Tuesday for a regular massage and during the course of the massage was offered sex. The officer declined, left the business and arrest and search warrants were secured and executed the same day.
While the initial tip claimed potential drug activity, Goolsby said there was no evidence of drug use or sales at the massage parlor.
The woman arrested, a 53-year-old from Flushing, New York, is a Chinese national in the country as a legal asylum seeker. Goolsby said there was evidence the woman was living full-time in the massage parlor.
In cases like these there are always concerns that the women are human trafficking victims or have been coerced into sex work in order to pay off a debt, but proving that or getting the women help is difficult unless they step forward, Goolsby said.
The woman arrested at MK Foot Relax was provided resources in case she needs help and referred to The Wellhouse, an Alabama nonprofit that services human trafficking victims in the United States with short-term and long-term shelter and transitional support services, he said.
The woman has since bonded out of the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, records show.
“It’s nothing we could prove at the time. We have non-governmental organizations that we reach out to in cases like this, but their hands are tied as well if the person doesn’t wish to seek help to be removed from that environment. Is this a true case of human trafficking? I can’t say yes or no,” he said.
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