8 arrested in desert for alleged acts of pandering, pimping
Eight people were arrested for alleged acts of pandering and pimping, authorities said today as they announced the results of a police crack-down on massage parlors in the Coachella Valley.
Investigators from the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and Cathedral City Police Department conducted an eight-month undercover operation, dubbed ``Operation B-Sting,’’ in which investigators posed as customers visiting massage parlors in Cathedral City, La Quinta and Palm Desert, according to the Sheriff’s Department.
The sting targeted eight businesses, five of which had employees who allegedly solicited the undercover investigators, authorities said.
The businesses were identified as J&S Health Systems, 44-200 Monterey Ave. in Palm Desert; L&M Natures Therapy, 68-561 E. Palm Canyon in Cathedral City; Palms Health Care, 72-880 Fred Waring Drive in Palm Desert; Sahara Massage, 35-325 Date Palm Drive in Cathedral City; and U.S. Asian Pain Care Center, 79-440 Highway 111 in La Quinta.
``Prior undercover operations into these massage parlors, as well as citizen complaints and information supplied by informants, helped determine the massage parlors targeted in the extended investigation,’’ according to a Sheriff’s Department statement.
The eight female suspects arrested in the sting were identified as Hong Cai, 34; Su Chen, 54; Yu Lin, 27; Cuimin Wang, 47; Yunying Xi, 56; Su Yu, 51; Wei Zhang, 33, and Guijun Zheng, 45.
The women were booked into the Indio Jail on suspicion of pandering, pimping and disorderly conduct. Their bail amounts ranged from $2,500 to $25,000, according to jail records.
The massage parlors that employed the suspects could face administrative action, including suspension of their business licenses, officials said.
—From news services