
Businesses involved include Denver Apple Spa, Tulip Spa, 21 Spa, Mojo Massage, Ocean Foot Massage and seven others. The seven indicted individuals include Chen Liang Kuo, Yi Ting Mo, Manqui Xu, Le Zhang, Ying Guo, Xiong Xie and Xuelin Chen. Their ages range from 33 to 57.
Grand Jury indicts masseurs suspected of trafficking women from China at Front Range businesses – Sentinel Colorado
US GOVERNMENT CALLS OUT NATIONS ON DISMAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING RECORDS IN NEW REPORT
McCann’s office received a tip in 2018 that some of the businesses may have previously operated in Aurora. Trevor Vaughn, tax and licensing manager in that city, told local news outlet Sentinel Colorado that he contacted the FBI in 2018 after several women at Ocean Foot Massage refused to present identifications to authorities during an audit.
Authorities found clothes and food throughout the property, which led them to believe people were living at the business.
The massage parlor shut down the following day, but Vaughn said he discovered that Ocean Foot’s owner, Chen Kuo, had another business in Denver that was still operating. Aurora has closed 20 businesses in the city over the past two years, Vaughn told the Sentinel.
The operation has been linked to Denver County, Douglas County, Arapahoe County, Routt County and Jefferson County, as well as locations outside the state in Oklahoma, California and Louisiana, the DA’s office reported.
During the investigation, authorities tracked “criminal proceeds through a network of bank accounts to support the money-laundering charges in the indictment,” Colorado Attorney General Phil Weiser said in a statement.
He added that illegal marijuana “grow houses diverted revenue from the state.”