Sex Workers Wait For Clients To Choose From In Xining (Photo : Getty Images)
U.S. District Judge Algenon Marbley doubled the sentence of a Chinese woman accused of sex trafficking to 12 months and one day from the maximum six months prison sentence.
The woman, Hui Li, initially claimed she did not know that the Asian women who approached her for help to find jobs are working as sex trade workers in massage parlors who work 12 hours a day, seven days a week. The 47-year-old resident of Chesley Court on the Northwest Side claimed she was unaware the women were working as prostitutes in the parlors.
Hui operated five massage parlors. These are Happy Fingers Spa at Northwest, Best Asian Massage on Hilltop, Happy Fingers Spa/Asian Magic Touch in Cincinnati and two more parlors in Illinois. She was looking for another location in Kentucky.
In November 2015, Hui pleaded guilty to sex trafficking, but she still used her massage license to help open a massage parlor in Kettering for her sister. Police found evidence that the masseuse at the Montgomery County parlor offered paid sex. Police said Hui made the women wear revealing attire and bought sex advertising on websites Backpage and Craigslist where she posted their sexy photos, reported Dispatch.
James Gilbert, lawyer of Hui, said the woman believes she is actually helping migrants find jobs in the U.S., accommodation and food. But Hui admitted she failed to make the immigrant workers follow rigid rules she set.
Hui herself is a migrant from China whose husband was incarcerated for opposing the Chinese government. She divorced her husband, married again in the U.S. and acquired citizenship but also divorce her second husband who was abusive. Hui studied massage.
