Bardstown police say human trafficking arrests part of year-long investigation into illicit massage industry

BARDSTOWN, Ky. (WDRB) — Police in Bardstown arrested three people Wednesday as part of a year-long human trafficking investigation.

The Bardstown Police Department said officers executed two search warrants Feb. 8. One was at Mi Ya Ko Spa off North 3rd Street, and the other was at Sunrise Massage & Body Work off Morton Avenue.

Police said the investigation has so far led to three people being arrested and charged with human trafficking and permitting prostitution: 69-year-old Myong Hui Evans, 53-year-old Shizhe Jin and 48-year-old Guihua Fang.

Detective Eric Williamson said this investigation began in February 2022.

“We received a letter last February from a concerned citizen — an anonymous letter — that outlined some concerns they had at some of the spas here in Bardstown,” Williamson said. “And then, (Kentucky Attorney General) Daniel Cameron's office has kind of been making a push to put an end to the illicit massage industry here in Kentucky, so with that push and some of the tips we got through some of the concerned citizens here in Bardstown, we opened our investigation into these illicit massage businesses.”

Williamson said Mi Ya Ko Spa opened in Bardstown in 2002, and Sunrise Massage & Body Work opened in 2017.

He said over the past year, several agencies have been involved in putting pieces together for this investigation that's now led to these arrests.

“During that time, we were conducting traffic stops on customers that visit the spas, also conducting search warrants and subpoenas on records, just getting all the background information to prepare us to conduct the investigation,” Williamson said.

Williamson said the investigation is still ongoing and he believes more arrests will be made.

“I think in the country, the illicit massage business is a huge industry,”  he said. “I believe there's over 11,000 of these businesses operating in the U.S.”

Williamson believes the businesses in Bardstown could be connected to other locations.

“We were able to help one victim at Mi Ya Ko Spa and then another victim at Sunrise Massage & Body Work,” he said.

Williamson estimated the ages of the two people found to be between 35 and 60 years old.

“It's very serious,” he said. “The women that work in this industry, they work in this industry through force, fraud and coercion. Just to give you an example of one of the living conditions inside one of the spas, the victim worker was sleeping on a blanket in the kitchen floor cooking food off a hot plate. They're living on location of these spas and they're not living in good conditions at all, very deplorable conditions.

“If they get a different victim or two victims every month, in the scope of things, that's a huge amount of victims that we're preventing from coming through Bardstown and that have been through Bardstown.”

Mi Ya Ko Spa and Sunrise Massage & Body Work both appeared to be closed Thursday. The “open” sign was on at Sunrise Massage & Body Work, but the door was locked.

This investigation is still open. Anyone with information or tips can contact Bardstown Police at 502-348-6811. There is also an anonymous tip line at 502-348-HEAT (4328).

Police said the two people found at the businesses were connected with Catholic Charities for assistance.

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