FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, August 22, 2022
Queens Man Indicted for Labor and Sex Trafficking of Two Women
Defendant Allegedly Forced the Victims to Perform Sex Acts On Customers of Bay Ridge Massage Parlor, Withheld Wages
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez today announced that a Queens man has been arraigned on an indictment in which he is charged with sex trafficking, labor trafficking, promoting prostitution, sexual abuse and related charges for forcing a massage parlor employee to engage in prostitution. The defendant was also indicted in June in connection to the labor and sex trafficking of another employee.
District Attorney Gonzalez said, “This defendant allegedly coerced, exploited and horrifically abused vulnerable women, forcing them to have sex for money, tightly controlling their lives, and threatening harm and humiliation if they left. I am fully committed to investigating and prosecuting this type of abhorrent trafficking to protect victims and to fight against the exploitation of women.”
The District Attorney identified the defendant as Guiyang Xu, 66, of Flushing, Queens. He was arraigned today before Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun on a 24-count indictment in which he is charged with sex trafficking, attempted sex trafficking, labor trafficking, attempted labor trafficking, third-degree promoting prostitution, first-degree attempted rape and related charges. He was ordered held on bail of $500,000 bond or $100,000 cash and to return to court on October 7, 2022.
The defendant was arraigned on a separate 20-count indictment charging him with sex trafficking, attempted sex trafficking, labor trafficking, attempted labor trafficking, first-degree rape, fourth-degree promoting prostitution and related charges on June 14, 2022 and bail was set at $5,000 cash or $15,000 bond.
The District Attorney said that, according to the investigation, the two women, ages 44 and 38, each responded to advertisements in April 2022 to work as massage therapists at Rose Spa located at 479 78th Street, in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, which operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The women began working shortly thereafter.
It is alleged that as part of their employment, the victims lived, slept and ate at Rose Spa, using massage tables as beds and relying on the defendant for food. Shortly after beginning to work at the spa, the victims were told that they were expected to perform sexual services for clients, including intercourse, masturbation, and other sexual activities. The cost for the sex acts was approximately $50.
Furthermore, it is alleged, the victims did not have set work hours, instead working seven days a week and they were expected to wake up at any hour to service clients. The defendant allegedly did not permit the women to leave the location and withheld food if they refused to engage in sex acts. He also allegedly withheld their wages and threatened to post compromising photographs of them on the internet if they did not comply with his demands.
It is alleged that the defendant raped the 38-year-old victim on or about May 15, 2022, inside of Rose Spa after she refused to have sex with him. On May 19, 2022, the woman walked into the 68th Precinct to report the rape and the defendant was arrested on May 25, 2022.
On June 8, 2022, members of the New York City Police Department conducted an undercover operation into 479 78th Street at which time a third woman allegedly agreed to perform sexual services for the undercover in exchange for money while in the presence of the defendant.
The case was investigated by Detective Philip Adaszewski of the New York City Police Department’s Human Trafficking Squad, under the supervision of Sergeant Robert Duplessis, Lieutenant Amy Capogna and Captain Thomas Milano.
The District Attorney thanked Detective Xi Lin and Senior Assistant District Attorney Tamara Marshall for their assistance in the investigation.
The case is being prosecuted by Assistant District Attorney Ilana Atlas and Senior Assistant District Attorney Anna Federico, of the District Attorney’s Human Trafficking Unit, with the assistance of Paralegal Specialist Aurora Martinez, under the supervision of Assistant District Attorneys David Weiss and Sabeeha Madni, Deputy Unit Chiefs, and the overall supervision of Assistant District Attorney Miss Gregory, Chief of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Bureau.
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