Spa investigation leads to human trafficking & prostitution charges

The Lebanon County Detective Bureau on Monday issued warrants for the arrest of two individuals on charges related to “trafficking of women for sexual services” following an investigation into two area spas.

The Lebanon County District Attorney’s Office announced the charges in a press release Tuesday.

According to the release, charges were filed against Chiao Ling Chiang of Philadelphia and Pei Chi Wu of Houston, Texas, following ongoing investigations conducted by the Lebanon County Human Trafficking Task Force. The task force is run by the district attorney’s office and is made up of Lebanon County detectives, Pennsylvania State Police, and local municipal police officers.

Charges against both suspects include multiple felony counts including trafficking in individuals, conspiracy in trafficking in individuals, involuntary servitude, conspiracy to commit involuntary servitude, corrupt organizations, prostitution, conspiracy to commit prostitution, and related offenses.

According to the press release, the Lebanon County Human Trafficking Task Force “exists to identify and charge those criminals within Lebanon County who prey upon the vulnerable and through force, fraud, and/or coercion to manipulate victims into some form of labor, often sexual acts.

“Female workers in the spa parlor investigations are often brought to the United States under the guise of lawful and legitimate employment. They often pay a large monetary sum to arrive in the United States or are charged a debt for their arrival. When these individuals arrive, they are sexually trafficked with no means of escape. They often do not speak the English language, have no local connections, and no way to ever ‘pay off’ their traffickers for inflated and falsified-owed sums.”

County detectives began an investigation into the Smile Spa at 723 Cornwall Road, Lebanon, executing a search warrant on July 2, 2025. Police located two Asian females who lived and worked in the spa, the release said.

“The investigation revealed Defendant Chiang and Defendant Wu staffed Smile Spa with Asian females who were expected to perform sex acts under the guise of massages,” the release said. “The females were rotated to other spas over time; the general premise is to prevent the females from developing local contacts or a means of escape.”

Interviews with the women found at the spa showed that they worked under the authority of Chiang and Wu, with instructions to “do whatever the clients want” and “keep the clients happy.” According to the release, clients requested vaginal sex, anal sex, and oral sex from the women.

The women said they were afraid of Chiang and Wu and had suffered prior threats of violence from Wu.

According to reports, police interviewed several male customers of the spa, who admitted to receiving sexual favors from the female employees. An undercover officer also paid for a massage at the Smile Spa and was offered a sexual act for extra money, but the officer declined and left the premises.

Detectives then expanded their investigation to the New Cindy Spa, also known as Yoko Spa and New Yoko Spa, at 445 W. Penn Ave., Cleona, where Chiang and Wu also reportedly did business. The task force executed a search warrant there on Jan. 22 and learned that the spa had new owners but still had an Asian female who lived at the location and performed sexual services under the guise of massages. The sexual services dated back to the time when Chiang and Wu owned the spa, the release said.

“The investigations into the Asian massage parlors are layered and never ending. Law enforcement has the arduous task of closing the physical location and ceasing the illicit sexual acts,” District Attorney Pier Hess Graf said in the release. “We have a duty to go farther – to identify the persons who are placing these women into the spas, who sell a dream of a better life to the guileless but then deliver instead a life of forced sex work.”

Investigations into illicit massage parlors throughout Lebanon County are ongoing. Anyone with information should contact county detectives at 717-228-4403.