Investigators raided the massage parlor in December and discovered a human trafficking ring along with videos of men visiting to pay for sex, the Tribune-Herald reported.
The operator of the massage parlor, 47-year-old Chun Yang Zhang, was arrested Dec. 8 on a second-degree felony charge of human trafficking, according to affidavits for her arrest.
Antioch's own anti-human trafficking ministry, UnBound, assisted the women who were found at the massage parlor in December. The Tribune-Herald spoke with the director of Unbound, Susan Peters, who said the organization and the church were shaken after hearing of Espinosa's arrest.
Peters said the women who were at the massage parlor that Espinosa visited were human trafficking victims who were forced to have sex with clients.
"All of these women were Asian women who did not speak English, were flown in and brought to different massage parlors, moved every few weeks," she said. "They don't have access to [immigration] papers, they live on the premises, there are cameras inside, and are watched 24 hours by live feeds.
"They are not consenting adults who can walk away. This is a criminal activity to harbor human trafficking."
The senior pastor of Antioch Community Church, Jimmy Seibert, told the Tribune-Herald that Espinosa had been a pastor there for eight years and that he told his supervisor Dec. 7 that he had visited the massage parlor in October.
"Once he confessed his sin, he was placed on administrative leave," Seibert said. "We were doing our own investigation about the incident, and he later turned in his resignation to us."
A former McLennan County Sheriff's Office deputy, Stephen Johnson, was also arrested Wednesday on a prostitution charge after investigators raided the massage parlor.
Authorities said additional arrests will be made and sexual assault charges are possible based on video footage found at the parlor.
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