Court records say Northampton massage parlor got high ratings from prostitution review...

[massage]

Massage parlors in Northampton and Agawam implicated by prosecutors in human trafficking and prostitution rings only served men and received high marks from users of a prostitution review website, prosecutors said in court filings.

Shuzi Li, the owner of Pine Spa in Northampton and Agawam Massage Therapy, was arraigned Wednesday morning on charges of human trafficking for sexual servitude, deriving support from prostitution and money laundering. She is being held on $100,000 bail.

Prosecutors have said that Li brought in women from New York and housed them in her West Springfield residence. The women allegedly performed sex work at her spas and were paid with a small percentage of the profits.

A probable cause statement filed in Northampton District Court provided additional details about Li's alleged business dealings.

The Northwestern District Anti-Crime Task Force began investigating Western Mass. massage parlors in the spring, according to the statement. They found that Pine Spa had received high marks on Rubmaps.com, a site dedicated to reviewing massage parlors that offer sexual services.

"Numerous user reviews posted in April and May of 2016 indicated that Pine Spa, Inc. provided sexual services to male clientele in exchange for cash tips averaging between $40 and $60 per sex act," the statement said. "Specifically, reviewers gave high ratings and descriptions of 'happy ending' massages."

The site shows 18 reviews for the spa, dating back to August of 2014.

Investigators also alleged that Pine Spa advertised sexual services on Craigslist and Backpage.com. Police began surveilling the spa, and found it catered to an "exclusively male clientele," according to the statement.

"During nearly continuous surveillance throughout the investigation of the locations managed and controlled by Li, investigators never observed a single female client enter the locations," investigators wrote.

Men interviewed by police after exiting the massage parlors allegedly confirmed that they had paid cash tips for sexual services.

Investigators also claim that that workers appeared to live inside the massage parlors, and that they observed Li transporting young Asian women to and from the facilities.

The Pine Spa appeared to be making between $9,350 and $10,450 per month, according to documents recovered by investigators from the facility's trash.

Feng Ling Liu, her husband Jian Song - both of Sunderland - and their daughter Ting Ting Yin are accused of running a similar operation in their Massachusetts businesses.

The family owns and operates Hadley Massage Therapy in Hadley, Feng Health Center in East Longmeadow and Massage Body Work in Framingham, according to the Massachusetts attorney general's office.

Ling Liu and Song were scheduled to be arraigned in Eastern Hampshire District Court in Belchertown Wednesday. Their arraignments have been postponed until Thursday due to the need of a Mandarin translator.

Michelle Williams contributed reporting.

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