Here's what authorities took from one of Springfield's Asian massage parlors -...

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Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said it's believed women from China or east Asia were held against their will at these businesses as part of one large trafficking ring. Giacomo Bologna

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Missouri State Highway Patrol cars sit outside Palm Spa at 2902 S. Campbell Ave. on Thursday, July 20, 2017. The massage parlor is one of more than a dozen Asian massage parlors in Greene County raided as part of a sex trafficking probe on Thursday.(Photo: Nathan Papes/News-Leader)Buy Photo


A search warrant document unsealed Thursday provides new details about the sex trafficking investigation involving Asian massage parlors in Springfield.

The warrant says law enforcement officers seized cell phones, apartment lease agreements, a video recorder and stained bed sheets during a July 20 raid at Palm Spa massage parlor at 2902 S. Campbell Ave.

The raid at Palm Spa was part of an operation in which the Missouri State Highway Patrol and Springfield Police Department raided more than a dozen Asian massage parlors in Greene County.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley said it's believed women from China or east Asia were held against their will at these businesses as part of a large human trafficking ring with possible ties to Asian organized crime.

So far, authorities have announced misdemeanor charges against nine people in connection with the operation, but no one associated with Palm Spa appears to have been charged as of Friday.

The recently unsealed search warrant document describes the events that gave highway patrol detectives probable cause to search the business.

On April 19, the warrant says, authorities stopped a man after leaving the massage parlor.

The man, who is not named in the document, allegedly told authorities he had just paid $80 for a massage that ended with a hand-to-genitals sex act.

Authorities also found an advertisement for Palm Spa on Backpage.com that they say implied there would be sexual contact during massages, according to the warrant.

Here is a list of the items authorities say they seized during the search: Four cell phones, a computer, a card reader, a swab from a stained baseboard, a notebook, a stained table skirt, a piece of carpet, bank receipts, stained bedding, a towel, a tablet, documents, a checkbook ledger, a checkbook, a copy of a social security card, samples of five stains on walls as well as stains from several bed covers, ledgers and medical histories, lease agreements from the Old Monterey Apartments, tax documents, a credit card plate, a phone bill, credit card receipts, billing documents and a video recorder.

Attorney General Hawley said last week he and the Greene County Prosecutor's Office were working to shut down the businesses.

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