Manager of Merrimack Valley massage parlor facing charges in human trafficking investigation

The manager of a Merrimack Valley massage parlor is facing charges after an undercover police operation revealed alleged human trafficking and prostitution at the business.

Suping Zhu, 38, of Flushing, New York, is slated to be arraigned Monday in Lawrence District Court on charges of deriving support from prostitution, keeper of a house of ill fame, and trafficking a person for sexual servitude, according to the Methuen Police Department.

Investigators say Zhu was trafficking women and operating an illegal sex operation out of Beauty Garden Spa at 5 Wallace Street in Methuen.

During a search of the business on Thursday, Sept. 4, police found living quarters for two women in the basement of the commercially-zoned building and notified city officials, who immediately ordered the business closed, citing “the unlawful habitation of individuals within a commercial premises lacking the requisite residential facilities and accommodations necessary to support lawful occupancy.”

Police say officers subsequently located computers, phones, and business records that were used in their ongoing investigation, and interviewed two women who were working in the spa.

Police allege that the women were forced to perform sex acts for clients.

“To the ‘Johns’ fueling this despicable trade, know this: you are not invisible, and we are targeting you next with the full might of the law. Human trafficking and sexual servitude are not victimless crimes,” Methuen Police Chief Scott McNamara said in a statement. “They exploit the vulnerable, destroy lives, and poison our community. We will relentlessly pursue every perpetrator to ensure they face justice.”

The Beauty Garden Spa has remained closed since the search warrant was served.

Neighbor Beth Foote told Boston 25 News she and her neighbors had been documenting the activity across the street for about two years, providing pictures and license plates to police and other city departments.

“I came into my neighborhood, and my neighbor down the street is like, ‘Hey, this is finally happening!’” Foote said of the bust earlier in the month. “The neighborhood has been very good, making sure there’s good documentation about who has been here.”

Foote shared photos with Boston 25 News showing what she says were buses that dropped off women carrying suitcases, as well as out-of-state cars carrying supplies for the women living there.

“This is a small neighborhood. We’re very, very close,” Foote said. “We knew that they were living downstairs… We saw them coming out every month, every two months, every couple of weeks. There would be a new group of girls coming in, and they were very blatant about it. They put them in these buses, and they brought them in and brought them out.”

In the wake of the discovery, Methuen Mayor D.J. Beauregard said he is “declaring war on human trafficking” in the city.

“We will identify and apprehend traffickers, shut down every business in Methuen that profits from this evil, and hold landlords accountable if they harbor them — we will find you, and we are coming after you next,” Beauregard said in a statement. “Methuen has zero tolerance for these terrible crimes in our city.”

The investigation into Zhu is ongoing.

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