FROM STAFF REPORTS

Three employees of illegal massage businesses have been arrested for illegal prostitution acts following a thorough investigation by the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force.

On Wednesday, May 14, Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force investigators, along with numerous other assisting local agencies, executed six search warrants at businesses and residences in Shelby and Jefferson Counties, which were executed after a long investigation into numerous illicit massage businesses.

The investigation sparked after numerous complaints were filed by citizens, which prompted the task force to begin the investigation. Search warrants were executed at Grace Spa of Alabaster, TRU Acupressure of Alabaster, Lily Massage of Chelsea, a residence in Shelby County, TRU Acupressure of Birmingham and a Birmingham residence. During the investigation, it was determined that the businesses were being used as a means of illegal prostitution.

Following the execution of the search warrants, the task force also discovered that some of the females working in the businesses were in the country illegally and were possibly only employed to perform the illegal sex acts. As a result, Zhen Liang Ou, Aiqin, Zheng and Ting Ting Chen were all arrested by investigators for  felony promoting prostitution in the second degree after being found to be supervising, transporting or profiting from prostitution.

Any other females who were made contact with by investigators during the execution of the search warrants were also allowed to speak with victim advocates to ensure they were not potential victims of any human trafficking.

The task force thanked all of the agencies that helped in the investigation and reported that it does not have any more information that it can currently share with the public.

“We are still conducting follow (ups) on investigations and we have no additional information that we can share at this time,” read an official Facebook post by the Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force. “The Shelby County Drug Enforcement Task Force would like to thank the concerned citizens and partnering agencies who assisted in this case.”