Florida human trafficking: Illicit sex spa income funds property in Martin County, records show
Will GreenleeMARTIN COUNTY — Records related to the arrests of two women in connection with spas that investigators named in a human trafficking and paid-sex case showed thousands of dollars moving between bank accounts.
They also showed that at least one of the women, Ruimei Li, 48, of Jupiter, used some of the proceeds to buy property in Martin County.
Li and Lixia Zhu, 48, of Stuart, were jailed along with others as part of a far-reaching investigation announced this week by Martin County Sheriff William Snyder. Additional spas and paid-sex arrests were announced Thursday by officials in Indian River County.
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According to records, Li and three others were linked to Bridge Day Spa at 11774 S.E. U.S. 1 in Hobe Sound.
Li had a five-year lease at $21,000 a year to occupy the space where Bridge Day Spa was located. The lease was executed in August 2016.
Investigators learned while investigating Li she transferred rights to another business — Therapy Spa — in August 2018 to Zhu. Zhu changed the name to Florida Therapy Spa “and proceeded to operate it in the same exact manner in which Ruimei Li operated Bridge Day Spa as a house of prostitution under the guise of a massage parlor,” records show.
In a complex analysis of banking records, investigators said Li paid nearly $178,000 to buy property in the 4900 block of Southeast Mariner Garden Circle in Stuart. That’s an address listed for Zhu.
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Investigators said it’s “clear” the money used to buy the property stemmed from “prostitution.”
Covert cameras at Bridge Day Spa from Sept. 28 through Oct. 14 show investigators reported 121 criminal sex acts for money. Nineteen other recorded incidents were non-criminal massages, and 15 others happened “outside of the scope of observation.”
Li is accused of providing a small amount of sex services, while others provided most during the surveillance period.
In August 2018, Zhu executed a four-year lease for the space at 2836 S.E. U.S. 1 in Stuart, the location of Florida Therapy Spa.
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Investigators said Zhu used multiple bank accounts to hide the source of money collected from sex acts.
Cameras installed in Florida Therapy Spa Nov. 2 through Nov. 20 showed 97 incidents, 86 of which were sex acts for money.
Zhu provided many of the sex acts, while two others reportedly were involved.
The same day Li and Zhu were taken into custody, the Martin County Sheriff’s Office filed a civil forfeiture case against them and four businesses, according to a lawsuit filed Feb. 19.
The lawsuit was filed under the Florida Contraband Forfeiture Act and seeks to seize $150,189, the property at Southeast Mariner Garden Circle that Li bought and two vehicles: a 2015 Lincoln and a 2017 Nissan.
The civil suit named Li and Zhu as defendants, along with Rui Property LLC, Bridge Day Spa Inc., Cove Day Spa Inc. and Florida Therapy Spa Inc.
Staff reporter Melissa Holsman contributed to this report.
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