Three women sentenced to prison for involvement in illicit massage parlors with Wilmington location
WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Three women from South Carolina, Virginia and North Carolina have been sentenced to a combined 72 months in prison for their management and involvement in an illicit massage parlor operation.
The parlors ran from August 2020 through June 2021.
The leader of the organization, Ok Hwa Lee, 55, was sentenced to 34 months in prison. Shanyu Song, 50, and Xuejin Bai, 51, were sentenced to 26 and 12 months and 1 day, respectively. Additionally, Lee was ordered to forfeit $151,000; Song $146,000; and Bai $55,000.
On November 10, 2022, Lee pled guilty to three counts, including one count of conspiracy and two counts of bribing a public official and Song pled guilty to conspiracy. On December 12, 2022, Bai pled guilty to one count of conspiracy.
Lee, Song, and Bai were arrested as part of a broad undercover operation for attempting to bribe law enforcement officers to provide protection for their illicit massage parlors where sexual services were being offered in Cary, Durham, and Wilmington, North Carolina.
During the investigation, an undercover HSI agent met with Lee, Song, Bai, and other individuals who provided more than $18,000 in bribes to the agent, believing that the bribes would provide protection from unwanted law enforcement inquiries at the various massage parlors.
