NORTHAMPTON — Three of the four individuals arrested for their alleged involvement in two unrelated sex trafficking operations each pleaded not guilty to charges Friday and were released after posting bail.
Shuzi Li, 52, of West Springfield, Feng Ling Liu, 50, of Sunderland, and Ting Ting Yin, 26, of New Hyde Park, New York, each appeared in Hampshire Superior Court Friday morning and pleaded not guilty to charges.
Alfred Chamberland, Liu’s attorney, said Friday in an interview that if illegal sexual activity was, indeed, happening inside his client’s businesses, she denies ever having knowledge of it.
In fact, Chamberland said, there were signs inside at least one of Liu’s three businesses that warned employees and patrons against illegal sexual acitities and that such activities would be reported to authorities.
“She’s not guilty. This didn’t happen,” Chamberland said. “She had a policy in place to prevent this from happening, and to her knowledge none of this was happening. So she’s shocked by these charges.”
The Massachusetts attorney general’s office announced in December that, following a months-long investigation spearheaded by Northampton police, it disbanded two unrelated — though similar — sex trafficking operations. The investigation netted four arrests and identified 10 victims, who police said were Asian women in their mid-20s to mid-50s and were shuttled between the Flushing neighborhood of Queens in New York and massage businesses in western Massachusetts where they stayed in apartments and sometimes in the massage parlors. Authorities said the victims provided sexual favors to male clients for cash tips.
“There’s this idea out there floating around that they were, like, these young girls that were brought here to Massachusetts and had no idea what they were doing or where they were,” Chamberland said. “That’s absolutely false.”
He added: “All of the employees had their own cellphones … they had a computer with an internet connection where they could contact anyone they wanted. They could come and go.”
The following businesses, according to the AG’s office, were named as fronts for the alleged criminal operations: Hadley Massage Therapy in Hadley, Feng Health Center in East Longmeadow, Massage Body Work in Framingham, Pine Spa in Northampton and Agawam Massage Therapy in Agawam.
Li advertised the services online for the Northampton and Agawam businesses and often pocketed the bulk of their earnings, prosecutors said. Similarly, Liu and Yin allegedly oversaw day-to-day business at the other spas while also advertising illegal activities online.
Li is facing two counts each of trafficking persons for sexual servitude, transacting in laundered money, deriving support from prostitution and keeping a house of ill fame. The operations she’s accused of overseeing and profiting from are based out of Northampton (Pine Spa) and Agawam (Agawam Massage Therapy).
Additionally, she will also be arraigned in Hampden Superior Court, because Agawam Massage Therapy is located in that county.
Liu and Yin are charged with three counts each of keeping a house of ill fame, trafficking persons for sexual servitude, conspiracy to traffic persons for sexual servitude and transacting in laundered money. The two women will also be arraigned in Hampden and Middlesex superior courts.
A fourth suspect, Jian Song, 48, also of Sunderland, is accused on the same charges and is expected to be arraigned in all three courts at a later date.
Li, Liu and Yin were released with special conditions Friday after posting bail. Li and Liu each posted $100,000 cash bail and were released, while Yin posted $20,000.
Release conditions included no contact with named victims or sex-buyers in either case, GPS monitoring, staying in Massachusetts and surrendering any passports. They are due back in court later this summer, Aug. 29.
Michael Majchrowicz can be reached at mmajchrowicz@gazettenet.com.