{"id":27335,"date":"2024-06-04T19:27:32","date_gmt":"2024-06-05T01:27:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/organized-crime-unit-takes-over-massage-spa-investigation\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:56:47","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:56:47","slug":"organized-crime-unit-takes-over-massage-spa-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/organized-crime-unit-takes-over-massage-spa-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Organized Crime Unit takes over massage spa investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Allegations
Allegations of prostitution led to a police search of this massage parlor at 633 East Main Street.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Seven registered Asian-owned massage businesses operate in Farmington. At least one has known ties to prostitution, and at least one of the others has a questionable website that would lead visitors to believe more than just massage happens there.<\/p>\n

The Farmington Police Department opened an investigation into the Health Spa massage business on April 30, and now the New Mexico Organized Crime Division is working with both the FPD and the San Juan County District Attorney\u2019s Office to bring the \u201cappropriate charges\u201d against Health Spa owner Fu Shuping, according to Special Prosecutor Robert Hart.<\/p>\n

Shuping was originally charged with promoting prostitution and accepting the earnings of a prostitute. She was arrested May 1 and booked into the San Juan County Detention Center. She was released May 2, and her preliminary hearing was scheduled for June 5 in San Juan County Magistrate Court.<\/p>\n

The charges against Shuping were dismissed on May 30 by Special Prosecutor Robert Hart, the director of the state\u2019s Organized Crime Division, which is operated out of the Second Judicial District.<\/p>\n

\"Fu
Fu Shuping, 52, of California, reportedly coerced an Ohio woman into prostitution at massage parlor at 633 E. Main St.<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe\u2019re doing continued investigation,\u201d Hart said in a June 3 telephone interview. \u201cI want to refile the case with the appropriate charges.\u201d<\/p>\n

The alleged prostitution came to light when on April 30 a woman walked into the Farmington Police Department claiming she had been forced into prostitution when she came to Farmington from Ohio for a job at the Health Spa.<\/p>\n

The woman provided police with information as to how the business operated, including where the condoms were stored and discarded, where the money was kept and the cost for services, which was \u201c$60 for one hour and $40 for 30 minutes,\u201d according to the affidavit for arrest warrant.<\/p>\n

The woman also told police that \u201cshe did not want to perform sexual favors,\u201d which included everything from sexual massages to performing oral sex and sexual intercourse, according to the affidavit.<\/p>\n

Shuping reportedly only paid the woman in tips and would not allow her to leave, until she paid her $400, the affidavit states.<\/p>\n

Investigators have not said whether this case involved human trafficking.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe take verifying whether or not there\u2019s been trafficking in these types of cases seriously,\u201d Hart said.<\/p>\n

The Organized Crime Unit was reestablished by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on May 24, 2023. It operates out of the Second Judicial District, and Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman chairs the unit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis commission will serve as a powerful tool to hit organized crime where it hurts the most,\u201d Lujan Grisham said in a news release at the onset of the organization. \u201cWe must do more to interrupt organized crime operations in our state, and these are sophisticated groups that take a sophisticated approach. That\u2019s what I am tasking this group to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Juan County Deputy District Attorney Dustin O\u2019Brien said this is one of the reasons why his office decided to appoint Hart as special prosecutor for Shuping\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey have more resources,\u201d O\u2019Brien said, adding members of the division came up to San Juan County to speak with the DA to offer assistance with cases. \u201cWe appointed the special prosecutor, because they have the organized crime division and it\u2019s designed to reduce organized crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hart said his office is working with the San Juan County DA and Farmington Police on the Shuping case. \u201cFPD is working this case and they\u2019re doing a great job,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Police Chief Steve Hebbe confirmed his department is \u201cworking closely\u201d with the Organized Crime Division.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to pursue vigorously the most serious charges that the facts allow, and this is buying us more time to do a better investigation,\u201d Hebbe said.<\/p>\n

A Tri-City Record<\/em> inventory of the city licensed massage businesses in Farmington found seven are Asian-owned, and four of the business\u2019 owners have home addresses outside San Juan County.<\/p>\n

Shuping she provided an address in San Gabriel, California. When that address was entered into Google maps, it came up as a strip mall.<\/p>\n

New Sunshine Health Spa, 1903 E. 20th St., is owned by Emma Wu, also of San Gabriel, California.<\/p>\n

Mei Mei Massage, 915 Farmington Ave., is owned by Lily Bai of Corona, California.<\/p>\n

Angel Massage, 913 W. Apache St., is owned by Yan Ping Ning of Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

New Leaf, 2417 E. 20th Street B, is owned by Hong Zhe Ding, and the website linked to the business connects to a site reportedly promoting sexual hookups with photos of nude women. This same business had a Yelp review that insinuated \u201chappy endings.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asian Real Massage, 658 W. Main St., and Asian Massage, 203 S. Orchard Ave., are both owned by Zhn Guilan, who has two Farmington addresses listed on his business licenses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farmington Police assist unit; case against spa owner is dismissed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27336,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27335","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27335"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27335\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":80027,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27335\/revisions\/80027"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27335"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}