9 Charged With Bringing Women From China To Kansas City Area For Prostitution

Saturday, May 12th 2007, 9:45 pm

By: News On 6

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) _ Authorities charged five more people Saturday with bringing women from China to the Kansas City area for prostitution after a series of raids at businesses billed as massage parlors.

A sixth person arrested Saturday was charged with prostitution. Four others were charged Friday with transporting people across state lines and national borders for the purpose of prostitution.

Authorities say they rescued 15 women from 12 businesses Thursday in Johnson County, Kan., mostly at strip malls. The businesses had drawn the attention of neighbors for some time, investigators said.

Most of the women are not facing charges, FBI spokesman Jeff Lanza said.

A criminal complaint filed Friday alleges that some of the defendants brought women across national borders and state lines, including into Kansas through Missouri, for prostitution for more than a year.

U.S. Attorney John F. Wood said investigators believe the massage parlors were ``in fact, nothing more than a front for highly profitable and thriving prostitution organizations.''

He said an 18-month investigation involving local, state and federal authorities found that the women were brought from China into the United States, primarily San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York City. They then flew to Kansas City and were driven to Johnson County, Kan., Wood said.

An undercover officer visited three of the businesses several times between January and May and was solicited to engage in sexual acts with women there each time, according to an affidavit filed with the criminal complaint.

The affidavit says investigators also searched trash at two of the businesses and found evidence of airline flights to Kansas City from Los Angeles, Phoenix, New York City and Las Vegas.

The defendants also were found to have wired a total of $83,300 to China, according to the affidavit.