The owner of a Methuen massage parlor was arrested Friday on human trafficking-related charges after the city shut the business down earlier this month, according to police.
Flushing, New York, resident Suping Zhu is facing charges of trafficking a person for sexual servitude, keeping a house of ill fame and deriving support from prostitution, Methuen police said in a Sunday press release.
Methuen police began investigating Beauty Garden Spa on Wallace Street after receiving complaints from residents about the business, the police department said. Officers obtained a search warrant for the massage parlor on Sept. 4 after a “lengthy investigation” that involved surveillance and undercover operations.
During the search, investigators found living quarters for two women in the basement of the commercially-zoned building, police said. Police notified the Methuen Departments of Health, Human Services and Inspections, and the business was shut down immediately.
Investigators later discovered numerous computers, phones and business records and interviewed two women who worked at the spa, police said. The investigation resulted in a warrant for Zhu’s arrest on human trafficking-related charges.
“I am declaring war on human trafficking in the city of Methuen,” Mayor D.J. Beauregard said in the release. “We will identify and apprehend traffickers, shut down every business in Methuen that profits from this evil and hold landlords accountable if they harbor them. We will find you, and we are coming after you next.”
Beauty Garden Spa has remained closed since the search warrant was served, police said. Zhu and others may face additional charges as the investigation into the business continues.
“This operation marks the first blow in our aggressive campaign to eradicate human trafficking and sexual servitude in Methuen,” Methuen Police Chief Scott McNamara. said in the release. “ … To the ‘johns’ fueling this despicable trade, know this: you are not invisible, and we are targeting you next with the full might of the law.”
Zhu is set to be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court.
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