Published: April 18, 2008 01:14 am            

COURTS: Massage parlor owner takes plea

BUFFALO — The owner of four massage parlors that were shut down last year as part of a federal prostitution sting has taken a guilty plea and is ready to spill the beans about her sex parlors and the men who may have frequented them.

Len Wah Chong, 43, of North Tonawanda, pleaded guilty in federal court to sex trafficking of persons by force, fraud and coercion.

As part of the plea, Chong agreed to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s office in the ongoing investigation into illegal activity surrounding the massage parlors, according to a press release from U.S. Attorney Terrance P. Flynn.

The December raids on the four parlors —the Lotus Acupressure Spa in Lockport; the Lotus Spa in Niagara Falls; Golden Acupressure and Lucky J Fortune Teller in Wheatfield; and Lotus Acupressure in Tonawanda — was the culmination of a 15-month investigation by the U.S. attorney’s hHuman Trafficking Task Force.

“She (Chong) has been the main target from the beginning of the task force,” Flynn told WKBW-TV, saying she was the main owner of the massage parlors.

Chong, also known as Lisa Tsui, was arrested along with her husband, Che Ngan Tqui, also known as Allen Tsui, 46, and her brother, Kim Poh Chong, 44, and his wife Wei Shang, 32.

They were charged with operating massage parlor or acupressure spa establishments as fronts for prostitution by aliens and then failing to file the requisite factual statement with the appropriate immigration authorities, and conspiring to do the same.

Investigators say that between August 2004 and October 2007, Chong recruited, transported and harbored at least 11 women to work in the four businesses, where they exchanged sexual favors for money.

Officials reportedly found nine woman, all illegal aliens from Asia, who spoke little English. Investigators said the women were held as virtual captives and performed acts of prostitution.

“She (Chong) admitted to being the person to coerce these women to come to the area,” Flynn said in an interview with Channel 7 on Thursday. “Many of them not knowing — they thought they were coming here to be legitimate massage therapists, but once they got here, they realized what they were really here for and did not have ability to leave,” Flynn said. “This case is clearly motivated by greed.”

Chong’s plea agreement requires her to pay $350,000 in restitution to 11 former employees, and an additional $350,000 forfeiture to the federal government.

She faces a prison sentence of 5 1/4 to 6 1/2 years, reduced from a minimum of 15 years to life, when she is sentenced in August.

Flynn told Ch. 7 that Chong could get a possible reduced sentence, “depending on what cooperation she offers law enforcement” in the coming days and weeks.

“We’re looking with respect to what other individuals helped her assisting in trafficking individuals into Western New York and who may have used their position as authority or influence to overcome these women or force them to do sexual acts,” Flynn said.

“She told individuals there was a judge or other people of law enforcement status that were using services and assisting her in getting them to provide sex acts for money or no money,” he said.

On March 20, retired Lockport Police Capt. John Trowbridge, 60, pleaded guilty in federal court to transporting a local massage parlor employee — an illegal alien — across state lines to Kentucky for prostitution purposes on Oct. 28, 2005, for a meeting of the Royal Order of Jesters, an international fraternal society. Court papers also referred to another woman who was transported to Pennsylvania on a separate occasion in 2006.

Trowbridge is a member of the Jesters. His attorney would not say if Trowbridge participated in these sexual acts. The retired police captain agreed to cooperate with the government as part of his plea agreement. He is scheduled for sentencing July 31.

The other men involved in the transport were not named in court papers.

Former State Supreme Court Justice Ronald Tills and Michael Stebick, Tills’ former law clerk, both members of the Jesters, are also being investigated, according to Channel 7. The U-S&J learned that Tills and Stebick have resigned their posts within the court’s Eight Judicial District, according to a district representative.

The International Institute of Buffalo is assisting the Human Trafficking Task Force by providing assistance to the women.

WKBW reporter Patrick Taney contributed to this report.

        

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