Jupiter spa owner arrested in prostitution, human-trafficking bust

JUPITER — The owner of a Jupiter day spa has become the third woman to face charges in an international human trafficking and prostitution investigation as authorities have begun announcing the first arrests of men — 11 in Martin County alone — accused of soliciting sex at their storefront businesses.

As part of the multi-agency investigation, Jupiter police arrested Hua Zhang, 58, on Tuesday on a slew of prostitution-related charges. Authorities say the Winter Garden resident is the owner of the Orchids of Asia Day Spa, one of several day spas targeted in the operation. Authorities have video of Zhang performing sex acts on a man, accepting money and keeping tracking of the business' financial account, according to her arrest report.

Martin County took 11 men into custody, each on charges on soliciting and using a structure or conveyance for prostitution. Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said about 100 men in all will face charges as a result of the eight-month investigation.

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Snyder said investigators followed as much of $20 million moving in and out of China. Locally, investigators were preparing to seize $2 million to $3 million in assets from the businesses in question.

“This could carry on and go all the way through the United States,” Snyder said, noting some suspects in the case had ties to New York as well to China. “There is no end to it. It is pervasive and it's real.”

He even vowed to shut down every day spa in Martin County that has engaged in illicit activities.

“I give every community member in Martin County my word, if there are other spas (involved), they're all going out of business,” Snyder said.

Under state and federal law, human trafficking is defined as soliciting, recruiting, harboring, transporting or otherwise obtaining another person to exploit him or her for labor, domestic servitude or sexual exploitation. Florida ranks third in the nation in the number of cases reported to the national human-trafficking hotline.

Snyder said many of the women came to the United States from China under the guise of having legitimate jobs in the day spas, only to find themselves forced to work in the sex trade and often being confined to the storefronts, eating and sleeping there when they were not working. In some cases, their supervisors took away their passports.

In October, Jupiter police began investigating Orchids of Asia, in the Jupiter Square Shopping Center at East Indiantown Road and U.S. 1, after being tipped by Martin investigators to reports of illegal activity there. Officers performed surveillance on the business and noted only men frequented the spa, despite Orchids of Asia advertising itself as a place for men and women. The men were inside the spa for between 30 minutes and an hour.

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A Florida Department of Health investigator noted that two rooms in the building had beds as well as dressers, as well as a kitchen, indicating that people lived there.

Officers began stopping men as they drove away from the business for traffic infractions, such as speeding or running red lights. Officers questioned what they did at the spa and at least four men said they had paid for the women to perform sex acts.

Last week, officers obtained a warrant to put surveillance cameras in the spa. Over a four-day period, officers gathered video of 26 men paying for and engaging in sex acts at the spa.

Officers were seen outside the spa Tuesday where a sign had been posted warning that the “unit is unsafe and its use or occupancy is prohibited.”

That afternoon, authorities announced the arrests of Ruimei Li of Jupiter and Lixia Zhu of Stuart, both 48. Martin County Sheriff William Snyder said at the news conference that he expected to make dozens more arrests — that Tuesday's were “the tip of the tip of the iceberg.”

Martin County authorities identified the 11 men arrested Wednesday as Brahim Aboujja, 48, of Port St. Lucie; William Boswell, 66, of Palm City; Joseph Calabria, 49, of Port St. Lucie; Charles Daniel III, 55, of Hobe Sound; Joseph Maass, 56, of Hobe Sound; Bobby Moon, 81, of Hobe Sound; Michael Mydock, 66, of Hobe Sound; Arthur Palma, 74, of Hobe Sound; Daniel Plotkin, 39, of Palm City; and Robert Ritter, 60, of Palm City.

Each were charged with soliciting prostitution and use of a structure or conveyance for prostitution. The crimes are considered a second-degree misdemeanor for a first offense, carrying a jail term of up 60 days, according to Florida statutes. A second offense is first-degree misdemeanor, carrying a prison time of up to one year. A third or subsequent offense is considered a third-degree felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody told reporters at the conference that four sheriff's agencies — including those in Martin, Palm Beach, Indian River and Orange counties — were involved in the investigation, as well as federal officials and three municipal police agencies. The St. Lucie County Sheriff's Office said it had no involvement in the investigation. A Port. St. Lucie police spokeswoman said officers from that agency helped Martin County deputies serve warrants and make arrests.

Indian River County authorities are planning to announce the results of a six-month investigation during a news conference Thursday. Nearly 200 people will face charges of solicitation as part of that investigation, the Vero Beach Police Department said Tuesday in a post on its Twitter page.

Zhang remained in custody at the Palm Beach County on Wednesday night with her bail set at $278,000. If released, she will be on in-house arrest. She also has to surrender her China and U.S. passports to Jupiter police. She also must prove any money she posts for her release did not come from illegal activities.

Circuit Judge Dina Keever-Agrama told Zhang through a Mandarin interpreter that she cannot have contact with any of the employees at the spa.

Her private defense attorney, who declined to give his name to a Post reporter, denied that Zhang was involved in any illegal activity at the spa and pointed to the other women listed in the arrest report as the offenders. It does not appear that any of the other women listed in the report have been arrested as of Wednesday afternoon.

Li is being held in the Martin County Jail on an $828,000 bond and Zhus is being held on a $428,000 bond at that facility as well.

Staff writer Hannah Morse contributed to this story.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Jupiter spa owner arrested in prostitution, human-trafficking bust