Five owners and operators were arrested and the massage parlors were shuttered last week in the raids in Seattle's Chinatown-International District and Beacon Hill neighborhoods. The raid was the culmination of a vast prostitution and money-laundering investigation, tying massage parlors and spas in Seattle to a sophisticated criminal network that brings Chinese women into the U.S. through hubs in California and New York and funnels millions of dollars back to China, said Sgt. Tom Umporowicz of the Seattle Police Department’s Vice & High Risk Victims Section.
Read MoreTwo teens joined a woman to testify against Nghia Nguyen, who was convicted of charges including rape, unlawful imprisonment, promoting sexual abuse of a minor and promoting prostitution. The case is notable because sexual assaults in homeless camps are often difficult to prosecute.
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