Spa Owners Slave Away to bring Happy Endings to Customers While Keeping Tight Rein on Sex Workers

GERMANTOWN, MD. – It’s all about a happy ending. For many business operations, the goal of complete customer satisfaction is the proper outcome for services paid for in advance and an eye for repeat business. 

For a series of spa operations in Montgomery County, with many of them located within a short distance of courthouses and the offices of prosecutors, the owners of the spas sometimes are charged with being madams, pimps or simply slave-masters. The trendy word in today’s media and law enforcement is “human trafficking” as if there are robotic alternatives.

Following critical negotiations with prosecutors, the charges often vanish. Another Happy Ending.

The supply of young women to work in spas and delivering sex along with massages is endless. Police say that after a long day at work, the girls are often transported on their slave bus by their alleged slave master back to the slave house in a time-honored tradition for Chinese who provided whores for brothels in gold rush towns, oil fields, and for companies building transcontinental railroads.

Nothing has changed.

Detectives from the Montgomery County Police Department – Vice and Intelligence Section charged Tin Tuan Lu, age 37, of the 12900 block of Town Commons Drive in Germantown, and 902 Beacon Square Court Apt 201 in Gaithersburg, Md., with committing human trafficking.

Court records show that Paul F. Kemp is the attorney for Lu and will be responsible for conducting a deal for an acceptable plea. The charges were brought by Montgomery County Police Detective S. Thielke.

In November 2015, police say that detectives began an investigation into human trafficking activity after receiving information about possible prostitution occurring at two businesses owned by Lu located in Rockville.

That means that the cops may have been tipped by a competitor in the whorehouse business who wanted to use the police to put a damper on the competition or someone else already charged who wanted to make their own charges go away.  Another Happy Ending.

Police say that the investigation revealed that Lu owns the Star Foot Spa and the Sun Foot Spa, located respectively at 966 Hungerford Drive, Suites 11A and 11B in Rockville.  Detectives learned that Lu would allegedly drive six to eight adult females from his home to the spas in the morning to start the workday.  The women worked at the spas during the day and return home with Lu in the evening.  Investigators learned that some of the female employees allegedly performed sexual acts on customers in exchange for additional money while they were working in the spas.

More Happy Endings.

On March 10, 2016, detectives executed a search warrant at the Star Foot Spa and the Sun Foot Spa.  Investigators located seven women working in the spas who were later determined to be from New York.

On March 18, 2016, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Lu charging him with four counts of human trafficking.

On March 23, 2016, investigators served the arrest warrant on Lu after he turned himself into police.  Lu was released after posting a $50,000 bond.

Montgomery County Police listed the following spas as being probed for providing Happy Endings for their clients in 2012, with some having the same address as the ones allegedly operated by Lu:

The Pink Spa,932 Hungerford Drive, Suite 14A, Rockville

• The Tropical Spa, 620 Hungerford Drive, Suite 16, Rockville
• Executive Bodywork, 966 Hungerford Drive, Suite 14A, Rockville
• Wa Wa Spa, 5858 Hubbard Drive, Rockville
• Best Massage- 966 Hungerford Dr, Suite 11A, Rockville

Nada for Ya Ya

Ya Ya Spa, located at 751 Rockville Pike, Suite 1B.

In another prostitution and massage parlor investigation in Montgomery County, States Attorney John McCarthy put four counts of human trafficking and operating a brothel on the Stet Docket on Sept. 27, 2012.  The charges placed by Detective Vendemio against Feng Liu of 70 Orchard Drive in Gaithersburg in connection with the Ya Ya Spa in Rockville, were negotiated in a plea deal with her attorney Gary R. Maslan and the prosecutors with no time and no fine and just a big Happy Ending for the alleged madam and the prosecutors.

Another Happy Ending.

Investigators with the Vice and Intelligence Section are asking anyone with information about suspected human trafficking occurring to contact the Vice and Intelligence Section at 240-773-5959.  Below are indicators that human trafficking may be occurring:

• Multiple people living in a cramped space and/or living with their employer
• Employer holding employee’s identification documents
• Inability to speak with the individual alone
• Submissive or fearful behavior by employee

Ta Ta for Tao

Tin Tuan Lu gave the address of the Tao Foot Spa as his address when recently ticketed in Montgomery County, Md.:

Tao Foot Spa in Gaithersburg | Tao Foot Spa 356 Main St. had the following reviews left on yelp.com:

Alex G. of Rockville, Md., wrote: This place is expensive. 90 minutes will set you back for 100 dol and this is with discount, lol! Plus tip $15 or $20. One hour is between $65 and $75 depending on the current promotion.  No foot soak, not even hot wet towels to wipe your feet.

Air con makes the room too cold for massage. And not every masseuse there speaks English. On the bright side, however – massage is very good, it’s full body, a combination of acupressure with Swedish strokes. My back never felt better. An added bonus – the therapists are good looking (which matters for the guys at least).

I might be back when have money to burn lol!

Randy S. of Gaithersburg, Md., wrote: I just had the worst massage of my life (in 20 years).  I’m so mad right now.  In one hour, she worked on my back and butt.  That’s it.  Never touched my legs or neck and never asked me to roll over.  And my back wasn’t even bothering me, so it’s not like there were issues to resolve.  That means she did about 30% of me.  This is literally the first time I gave no tip at all.

And as I was leaving, the girl at the counter asked me about it.  I said, “What?”  She asked again.  I explained my issue, and she apologized, and they’d do better next time.  I told her “There isn’t going to be the next time.”

I’ve been there five times.  The first two were okay.  The third was lame, and the girl actually put someone else’s pants on me (I was nude) at one point while I was face down.  I was like, WTF?  I didn’t go back for two years.  Then a month ago I had an incredible massage.  And now this today.  That’s it.  It might be across the street from me, but forget it.

I highly recommended Annie’s in Germantown, up the street next to Outback Steakhouse.  They are my go-to place (out of 40 massages I’ve only had one bad one that was still better than this). The only reason I came here a month ago was that Annie’s was booked, and it was no massage or TAO.

Manny S. wrote this review: This place is great, and the girls here are totally professional and give the best foot massages. I also gotta mention that the girls here are cute and fun to talk to. The price isn’t too bad either; you really owe it to yourselves to check this place out.

Tin Tuan L., (who may be the owner) left this review: good body work, Nice and beauty girls from Asia.