Advocate staff photo by LESLIE WESTBROOK

Advocate staff photo by LESLIE WESTBROOK

A Lafayette massage parlor targeted in a police sting operation has ties to a Denham Springs massage parlor that was similarly closed after a police investigation uncovered prostitution.

One woman was arrested Tuesday on a count of soliciting for prostitution at MK Foot Relax after the Lafayette Police Department received information prostitution and drug transactions were taking place at the Arnould Boulevard massage parlor, Lafayette Police spokesperson Sgt. Robin Green said in a statement.

Lt. Kent Goolsby, who helped lead the case, said a tip was sent to the department Aug. 11 and to several other officials in the city, including the mayor-president’s office and a councilmember, that raised concerns about the business.

After an initial investigation, which turned up evidence including backpage-like online advertisements that heavily alluded to illicit sexual services, the narcotics unit organized a sting, he said.

An undercover officer went to the business on Tuesday for a regular massage and during the course of the massage was offered sex. The officer declined, left the business and arrest and search warrants were secured and executed the same day.

While the initial tip claimed potential drug activity, Goolsby said there was no evidence of drug use or sales at the massage parlor.

The woman arrested, a 53-year-old from Flushing, New York, is a Chinese national in the country as a legal asylum seeker. Goolsby said there was evidence the woman was living full-time in the massage parlor.

In cases like these there are always concerns that the women are human trafficking victims or have been coerced into sex work in order to pay off a debt, but proving that or getting the women help is difficult unless they step forward, Goolsby said.

The woman arrested at MK Foot Relax was provided resources in case she needs help and referred to The Wellhouse, an Alabama nonprofit that services human trafficking victims in the United States with short-term and long-term shelter and transitional support services, he said.

The woman has since bonded out of the Lafayette Parish Correctional Center, records show.

“It’s nothing we could prove at the time. We have non-governmental organizations that we reach out to in cases like this, but their hands are tied as well if the person doesn’t wish to seek help to be removed from that environment. Is this a true case of human trafficking? I can’t say yes or no,” he said.

In a 2019 massage parlor sting operation, eight people arrested in an operation that focused on five massage parlors and three area residences. A Lafayette woman, Xufang Ou, is scheduled for trial on Sept. 12 on charges of human trafficking and pandering. 

Goolsby said the investigation into MK Foot Relax is ongoing and others may be charged.

Records from the Louisiana Board of Massage Therapy show the business was connected to Massage Life, one of three Denham Springs massage parlors that was closed after a similar police sting in February.

Massage Life and MK Foot Relax, along with three massage parlors in Lake Charles, were registered under the same licensed massage therapist, Canfeng Li, board records show. He testified at a July hearing with the help of a translator that he “applies as the licensed massage therapist to get approval of the establishment and then hires workers.”

The businesses were also connected through a couple shared addresses, documents show.

MK Foot Relax’s domicile address in Lake Charles, 425 W. McNeese St., is the same address for a massage parlor owned by Canfeng Li. Massage Life and a second Lake Charles massage parlor owned by Canfeng Li also share a Houston mailing address.

A massage parlor at 425 W. McNeese St. was targeted in a 2019 prostitution sting while operating under a different owner and business name, according to a KATC report and state business records. 

At the July hearing, Canfeng Li said he had no knowledge of the prostitution happening at the Denham Springs business.

The state massage therapy board chose to revoke his license and the licenses for each of his associated businesses. The businesses, which had no other licensed massage therapists, were ordered to close.

MK Foot Relax’s listed owner, Xinchang Li, said through a translator at the massage therapy board hearing that he wasn’t associated with the Massage Life staff and “our store has nothing to do with the charges,” but agreed to surrender his business’s license.

The Louisiana Secretary of State’s records show MK Foot Relax, which was first established in September 2021, filed to dissolve on July 30. Even so, the business remained in operation, Goolsby said.

Since Tuesday’s sting operation the massage parlor’s occupancy permit with Lafayette Consolidated Government has been revoked and the business closed, he said.

Email Katie Gagliano at kgagliano@theadvocate.com. 

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