TEXAS: Authorities charge two people in connection with human trafficking at massage parlors

http://www.statesman.com/news/williamson/authorities-charge-two-people-in-connection-with-human-2414188.html

ROUND ROCK — Authorities said Monday that they have arrested an Elgin man and woman who are accused of forcing five Asian women into prostitution at two massage parlors Panda Paws in Cedar Park and Unique Massage in Round Rock.
Xiaofeng Wo, 47, and Greg Sanfratello, 46, were both charged with continuous trafficking of persons, a first degree felony according to the Cedar Park Police Department. Wo was also charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution.
The women who worked at the massage parlors were forced to live there or were shuttled to an apartment Wo had leased in the 300 block of Cypress Creek Road in Cedar Park, a warrant said. The apartment had no furniture, and the women slept on sheets on the floor, the warrant said.
The warrant shows that Wo is a Chinese citizen, but Capt. Jeff Hayes, a spokesman for the Cedar Park Police Department, said the immigration status of the five women was uncertain.
Wo and Sanfratello, who lived at the same Elgin address, were arrested last week and being held Monday in the Williamson County Jail, according to an arrest warrant. Wo's bail was set at $515,000 for the two charges. Sanfratello's bail was set at $500,000.
Wo owned the massage parlors, located in the 900 block of S. Bell Blvd. in Cedar Park and the 2000 block of Interstate 35 in Round Rock, a warrant said.
Police seized $15,964 in cash, a 2004 Mazda 6 and a 2011 Honda Accord, according to court documents.
The Cedar Park Police Department and the Round Rock Police Department began their investigation in June after a man submitted an anonymous complaint saying that he had gone into Unique Massage on April 11 to receive a foot massage and was asked whether he wanted a "happy ending," the warrant said.
The warrant said that "a ‘happy ending' is common terminology used in the sex industry."
An investigator also read postings about sexual services the two massage parlors offered on a website.
Police sent an undercover officer into Panda Paws on June 21 and another into Unique Massage on June 22 and both were touched in an inappropriate way, according to the warrant.
The women who worked at the massage parlors were taken to a "safe and secure location where they are receiving appropriate follow-up assistance," police said. 

Contact Claire Osborn at 
246-7400

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Some studies say that Chinese women in massage parlors are not forced into prostitution per se, but they are prostituting on their own by flying into the U.S. on their own will. A report like this shows the contrary evidence. It also confirms the anecdotes that Chinese massage parlors are connected to marriage fraud. I am not sure how Sanfratello was involved with Wo. They were just co-habitating. Some say that massage parlor owners and victims are use American citizens to obtain green card through marriage fraud. I don't know if this is the similar case. Police must look into what's behind the women's ownership; i.e. who was the investors, how she opened the massage parlor, etc.