Warrants: Knightdale massage parlors offered sex acts - WRAL.com

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Knightdale, N.C. — A customer and two confidential informants told police that they were offered sexual gratification at two Knightdale massage parlors, one of them linked to human trafficking charges filed last week.

In warrants released Tuesday detailing the search of three locations – two massage parlors and a Holly Springs home – police described the advertisements that led them to the search and the actions of the employees.

In seeking the authorization to search the properties, police wrote that they became suspicious after internet searches that described "massages with happy endings" and other techniques that are illegal under North Carolina state law.

Police sent confidential informants into Zen Spa Center, at 4021 Village Park Drive, and Foot Massage Spa, at 905 McKnight Drive, on Oct. 20, and interviewed a man as he left another nearby massage parlor. All three reported being offered sex acts in exchange for money.

Last week, police searched the two locations, along with the Holly Springs home of Ri Ping Lan, 42, of 120 Palmdale Court, and seized computers, paperwork and surveillance cameras. Lan, the registered owner of Zen Spa Center, was arrested and charged with human trafficking and promoting prostitution. She remains in the Wake County jail under a $250,000 bond.

In their investigation, police said their informants did not see any posted state licenses that are required by the state to perform massage or bodywork.

"Paying for sexual favors is not a victimless crime," Knightdale Police Chief Lawrence Capps said after the arrest. "We cannot condition ourselves to believe it is harmless or that the girls and young women working in these illegal establishments are there by choice."

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