METHUEN, Mass. — Methuen city officials announced Thursday a new Human Trafficking Task Force after nine day spas were shut down within a week.
Last Friday, police arrested Suping Zhu, 38, of New York, the alleged manager of Beauty Garden Spa on Wallace St., on charges of deriving support from prostitution, keeper of a house of ill fame and trafficking person for sexual servitude.
Police say the business was used as a front for human trafficking with the female victims living in the basement and performing sex acts for clients.
“The message we have sent in declaring war on human trafficking is clear: Methuen is not a safe harbor for these criminal enterprises,” said Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard in a joint news conference.
Officials announced new initiatives to find and arrest the johns fueling the prostitution business, including expanding the city’s public camera program, adding license plate reader technology and sending written notification to homes associated with cars repeatedly seen at suspected operations.
“Some may find themselves with a little bit of explaining to do when the letters arrive,” said Methuen Police Chief Scott McNamara.
The city credited concerned neighbors with tipping off police and encouraged other residents and business owners to come forward if they suspect human trafficking.
“We know that in the sick and depraved world we live in, others may attempt to open new illicit operations masked behind different fronts,” Beauregard said. “That’s why I’m urging every resident: if you see something, say something.”
Neighbor Beth Foote, who lives across from the now-shuttered Beauty Garden Spa, had snapped pictures, jotted down license plates and passed information to police as she says she watched women with luggage be dropped off in buses to live there and countless men come and go.
Foote and other neighbors celebrated the bust as a victory for the neighborhood but worried about the fate of the female victims.
“I look out of my office. I see hundreds of guys going in and not one woman. Yeah, maybe I’m nosy,” Foote said of observing the activity in her neighborhood. “I can’t even tell you how thrilled I am. And I wish people would not put their head in the sand and tell you it’s not happening in their neighborhood. It is.”
Police say the two women found living in the basement of the first business are now in New York and will have victim’s advocates and other resources made available to them by law enforcement.
Audra Doody, a sex trafficking survivor and co-executive director of non-profit Safe Exit Initiative, joined officials in their announcement Thursday, reminding victims there is hope for healing after trauma.
“You kind of have to reprogram yourself and allow yourself to trust again, which is really hard after you’ve been through situations like that,” Doody said.
The city also launched a new webpage outlining resources for victims of human trafficking and sexual assault at www.methuen.gov/stoptrafficking.
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