Mei Xing was a tough madam overseeing sex workers at San Gabriel Valley massage parlors. But prosecutors struggled to prove she was guilty of sex trafficking.
Mei Xing’s sex trafficking trial laid bare many secrets of the San Gabriel Valley’s massage parlors.
In a loud voice, the stout defendant described in Mandarin how it all worked — the $40 fee, the tips, the tracking of the cash. She placed “Masseuses Wanted” ads to find sex workers for the downscale massage parlors she ran in strip malls on the wide boulevards of the largely Asian and Latino suburbs just east of Los Angeles.
Xing’s testimony, from a witness box framed by white marble, would leave jurors confronting uncomfortable questions at the end of the three-week trial in June.Was Xing’s conduct as egregious as the government charged? She married Yuanjin Li, who would leave home for months at a time to work on fishing boats at sea, and they had a son. When Xing moved to the United States in 1997, she left the toddler with her mother in Tianjin.“I wanted to make money in the U.S.,” Xing testified. “I wanted to have my family have a better life.”“So you’re a grandmother?” Xing’s attorney Callie Steele asked.In her mid-30s, Xing settled in the San Gabriel Valley. She divorced Li and married an American.
In 2013, Xing opened her flagship business, Sunshine Massage, in a strip mall on Garvey Avenue in South El Monte. Red oval lanterns with golden tassels hung above the entrance. A sign in the glass door showed a woman’s hands kneading the shoulders of a smiling man. The storefront was painted red.Inside was a reception area with plastic plants and more Chinese lanterns. Along a dimly lit hallway were 13 private rooms with massage beds and mirrors on the wall.
The cost of a one-hour massage was $35, collected at the front desk upon entry. If the masseuse was licensed, Xing would pay her $15; if not, $10. Massage parlors can be shut down for offering sex, so Xing would remind employees: “We’re a massage parlor. We need to provide massage service.” Vaginal sex, known at Sunshine Massage as a “big job,” was a whole other matter. Xing would not only keep the entire $35, but also charge the masseuse $5 to ensure Xing got her full $40, she told the jury. The masseuse was expected to negotiate a minimum of $80 in tips she would keep.All of the masseuses preferred sex work over massage, according to Xing, because the tips were so much higher. A masseuse who went by “Luna” testified she typically earned $6,000 to $7,000 in tips per month.
Liu wrote more than $84,000 in checks to Xing for supplying food, booze and women, an FBI agent told the jury. Liu sometimes liked to just talk, drink and dine with the masseuses. Other times, he had sex with one after another, two masseuses testified. One told jurors he pressured her into unprotected sex against her will.At first glance, Xing’s ledgers don’t seem to distinguish between a massage and sex.
If the john wanted to maximize privacy, Xing — also for a $40 fee — would sometimes have the masseuse take him to her San Gabriel condo. She and her teenage son lived on the first and second floors. The third was set aside for business: A spartan bedroom and bathroom with a separate entrance. CAST took two women to see Stewart. Both said they’d engaged in prostitution at Xing’s behest while working at two massage parlors she partly owned: Rose Spa, on Peck Road in El Monte, and Garvey Therapy.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Why Is VW Teaming Up with Yet Another Chinese Automaker?This Chinese automaker is known for its high-tech cars. Helps, too, that it already has offices in the US.
Read more »
Congress looks to ban US funding for Wuhan and other Chinese, Russian labs: 'not another penny'Senator Joni Ernst has introduced legislation to ban the use of any U.S. taxpayer dollars to fund labs in China and Russia that conduct risky experiments.
Read more »
Chinese tennis star Yibing Wu, 23, collapses in scary Citi Open sceneA scary moment occurred at the Mubadala Citi DC Open on Monday when Yibing Wu, a 23-year-old tennis player from China, collapsed on the court.
Read more »
Pirelli gets new board after battle over Chinese influencePirelli investors on Monday approved a new board for the tyremaker, giving it a new three-year governance set-up after the Italian government last month took steps to curb the influence of the company's leading Chinese investor.
Read more »
FIRST Film Festival: Chinese Women Take Spotlight in First Frame Competition'This program is a rare thing. It’s dedicated to women and there are not many places like this,' says Alan Zhang, director of 'This Woman,' which won the section's top prize on Saturday.
Read more »
Our bears are real, a Chinese zoo says, denying they are 'humans in disguise'A zoo in eastern China is denying suggestions some of its bears might be people in costumes after photos of the animals standing like humans circulated online.
Read more »