Woman arrested in massage parlor sting returned to Lafayette after fleeing on bond - Daily Advertiser

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XuFang Ou, 35, was returned to Lafayette after being detained by ICE in New Jersey. Ou was arrested last year in a local massage parlor sting and charged with human trafficking.

(Photo: Courtesy of the Lafayette Parish Sheriff's Office)

A woman charged with human trafficking after a massage parlor sting in Lafayette last year has been extradited from New Jersey after fleeing while on bond last fall.

Xufang Ou, 35, of Lafayette, was arrested in February 2019 after Lafayette Parish Sheriff’s deputies conducted a pair of undercover operations at a handful of massage parlors tied to Ou.

Ou, a Chinese citizen, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers in New Jersey in November after leaving Lafayette while on bond for one count of human trafficking and two counts of pandering (solicitation) before being returned to the Lafayette Parish jail on April 11.

Ou pled not guilty to all three charges last year and opted for a trial by jury, rather than by judge.

Deputies found that women originally from China were being forced to live at the parlors and perform sex acts for male guests under direction from Ou after a pair of undercover operations at four of the parlors in Lafayette where undercover LPSO deputies were propositioned for sex by the parlors’ staff, according to a warrant request LPSO issued for Ou’s arrest.

First reported: Lafayette Parish deputies charge seven women, two men with prostitution crimes

Investigators connected Ou to nine massage parlors in the Lafayette area, through surveillance and business records.

Those businesses were:

• Chinese Massage at 3302 Johnston Street
• Asian Massage/Harmony Zen Spa at 1512 Ambassador Caffery Parkway
• Angel Spa Massage at 1007 Kaliste Saloom Road
• Spa Massage at 4016 Highway 90 in Broussard
• Asian Zen Spa at 2512 Johnston Street
• AA Massage at 292 Ridge Road
• Golden Star Massage at 117 Industrial Parkway
• Joy Spa at 2517 Pinhook Road
• Mosa Spa at 504 Guilbeau Road

Deputies alleged “Asian females were coming in from China and owed several thousand dollars for being brought to the US” and “the females are obligated to work their debts off by living at these massage parlors and are being paid by customers to engage in sex acts.”

Ou’s bond was originally set at over $1 million when she was arrested in February 2019, but that was reduced the following March after her lawyer requested it be lowered, arguing the $1 million amount was “more than is necessary to ensure the presence of (Ou)” and the “offense charged is not so serious as to justify” the amount, prompting a judge to reduce her bond to $125,000.

Ou was required to turnover over her passport to authorities and prohibited from any contact with any massage parlors or their operators as a condition of her bond.

Ou posted the reduced bond a week later, and was present at an October pre-trial hearing in Lafayette, according to court records, but missed a court date this February, prompting a judge to issue a bench warrant for her arrest, though she was in ICE custody in New Jersey at the time.

Ou is currently being held in the Lafayette Parish jail pending a hearing scheduled for May 28.

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