Yang Jiang, 63, of New York, has been charged with human trafficking relating to an unlicensed spa in Rockville, Montgomery County Police Department announced. They said the incident was the third in recent months related to trafficking at an illegal spa in the county.
Police said detectives began investigating after finding ads with scantily clad women on a website known to solicit prostitution. They observed male clients entering and exiting an unlicensed spa in the 14800 block of Physicians Lane in Rockville, they said. Police obtained a search warrant Dec. 28 and executed it Jan. 4.
According to the release, officials interviewed a sex trafficking victim who said she was hired by Jiang to provide massage services and told that she could make additional income by providing sexual services.
Officials are asking any women who were hired and potentially victimized by Jiang to come forward.
Jiang was arrested and taken to the county’s Central Processing Unit where she was charged with prostitution. On Feb. 3, she was charged with two counts of sex trafficking.
Court records did not list attorney information for Jiang.
One of the other recent instances police alluded to was publicized in December, when two women were charged with sex trafficking and prostitution in relation to an unlicensed spa on Georgia Avenue near downtown Silver Spring.
“Victims of human trafficking are not always forced into trafficking by brute, physical means. Victims are often coerced into being trafficked over a period of time through deliberate, psychological tactics used by their traffickers, so the signs of trafficking may not always be obvious,” Police Chief Marcus Jones said in the news release.
Victims of sex trafficking can contact the Montgomery County Crisis Center 24 hours a day/365 days a year at 240-777-4000 or in person at 1301 Piccard Drive in Rockville, without an appointment, or they can call 911.
Police asked anyone with information on Jiang to contact the Vice and Intelligence Unit at 240-773-5958 or contact Crime Solvers of Montgomery County toll-free at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477). Callers may choose to remain anonymous.
