ABC7 β A four-month undercover police investigation, which relied on a GPS tracker and interviews with 60 men, led to the closure of a massage parlor located near Montgomery College. Business owner, Emily Zhang Lawrence, 47, of the block of Birdseye Drive in Germantown, is charged with a number of criminal counts including human trafficking and prostitution. The tipster further claimed that the spa recruited its masseuses β all Chinese immigrants β from Flushing, New York.
The Queens neighborhood is known for being a hub for the human trafficking of Asian women, police note. Two days after receiving the online tip, undercover detectives camped outside of Rose's Spa, located at Frederick Road. The detectives watched as a maroon Honda Odyssey minivan pulled into the parking lot. A female driver and six female passengers exited the vehicle and entered the spa. Investigators ran the minivan's license plate number, which produced Lawrence's name.
Police say the electronic device showed a clear, daily pattern. Lawrence would reportedly leave her Germantown home each morning, stop at the condo on Gunners Branch Road and then drive to the spa in Rockville. Lawrence performed that routine in reverse each evening after the spa closed at 9 p.
Police allege the condo along Gunners Branch Road served as a dormitory for the trafficked, Chinese women. In tandem with the GPS analysis, vice detectives stopped around 60 male customers as they departed Rose's Spa between March 1 and July Eighteen of those men admitted to paying for "some sort of illicit sex act. She has provided lodging and transportation for the workers, likely victims of human trafficking who are committing those illicit sex acts, for the entirety of the investigation.
Lawrence also uses the condo unit at Gunners Branch Road, which she owns, to harbor the Asian female workers at the spa. Rose's Spa has a 3. One of seven public reviews states, in part:. They got straight to his service," Yelp user "Love D. According to court documents, Lawrence β who was born in China β has a maiden name of Yan Qiang Zhang. She is divorced with two children. She faces up to 41 years in prison. Defense attorney David Martella did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
