Investigation into massage parlors in Alaska leads to arrests on felony sex trafficking charges

An FBI Evidence Response Team collects and documents evidence at an alleged illicit massage parlor. (Image Courtesy of the FBI Anchorage Field Office)

By Haley Lehman

Alaska Beacon

Multiple law enforcement agencies arrested seven people in Anchorage and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley last week on charges of sex trafficking after a yearlong investigation found that multiple massage parlors were fronts for criminal enterprises.

“Human trafficking criminal enterprises operate in plain sight while victims are exploited for labor, services and commercial sex acts through force, fraud or coercion,” Matthew Schlegel, special agent in charge of the FBI Anchorage Field Office, said during a press conference Thursday.

Anchorage Police Department, Alaska State Troopers, the FBI Anchorage Field Office are part of a task force that investigates sex and human trafficking. Homeland Security Investigations, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Army Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Coast Guard, Wasilla Police Department and the Anchorage Airport Police Department assisted in the investigation.

Officers searched Jasmine Spa, Zen Massage, Stream Health Spa of Wasilla, Phoenix Health Spa, Owl Health Spa, Renew Day Spa, Red House Massage of Anchorage and two Anchorage residences in connection with the investigation.

Law enforcement arrested Lee Merrill Van Ness, 72, of Anchorage, Terry Allen Volkman, 53, of Anchorage, Hui Zhang, 44, Hong Zhen Li, 51, of New York, Guoguo Zhang, 54, of Wasilla, Tuan Huynh, 34, of Anchorage, and Xiaotian Xiong, 40, of New York, on felony charges of sex trafficking.

Alaska State Troopers Colonel Maurice Hughes said during a press conference Thursday that they targeted these illegitimate operations because they were exploiting individual and vulnerable adults. 

Hughes said that the victims were offered support and connected with resources.

“These individuals were not the focus of the investigation. They were the reason for the investigation,” he said.

Law enforcement identified massage parlors that advertised commercial sexual services online during the investigation. The investigation entailed undercover officers visiting various massage parlors and posing as customers looking for sex in exchange for money, a criminal complaint stated. Law enforcement allege that the seven people arrested harbored victims of human and sex trafficking and forced them to pose as masseuses.

The massage parlors may be linked to international organized crime organized out of Flushing, New York, and Monterey Park, California, according to charging documents. Law enforcement may file additional charges as the investigation continues.

Anchorage Police Chief Sean Case attributed the length of the investigation to the complex nature of the allegations.

Alaska Bureau of Investigation Commander Tony Wegrzyn said that investigators have “a mountain of evidence to go through.”

According to Wegrzyn, all victims were from outside of Alaska.

• Haley Lehman graduated from James Madison University and reported for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. Alaska Beacon is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.