A Clackamas County prosecutor last week told a judge that the list of defendants indicted for allegedly sex-trafficking women from mostly China and compelling them to live in two massage parlors has grown to eight.

Senior Deputy District Attorney Rusty Amos said Chinese nationals were brought to Floral Spa at 15630 Boones Ferry Road, across the street from Lake Grove Elementary, and to YoYo Spa at 21510 Willamette Drive. Amos said the women appeared to be part of a national network that shipped them from state to state and directed them to have sex with men while living in the massage parlors, which were both situated in strip malls.

“This was a network of individuals who were transporting and replacing women every 30 days who were working at the spa, quite a few who were brought here from the country of China,” Amos told a judge at a defendant’s arraignment last week. “A lot of these folks are associated with spas up and down the West Coast.”

Lake Oswego Police Sgt. Tom Harper said he believes this is the first such operation city police have uncovered in the 26 years he’s been policing the community. Harper said the operation came to light after a Lake Oswego detective attended a training about prostitution rings that present themselves as legitimate businesses. The detective then noticed Flora Spa.

Oregon Secretary of State business registry records show Flora Spa was incorporated in May 2023 and YoYo Spa for a short stint in 2022, followed by a closure and a reopening sometime after November 2023. Records list a person, Jingxiang Yang, as the owner. Both businesses are now closed.

Yang hasn’t been charged with any crime. The following defendants have been indicted for allegedly promoting prostitution, compelling prostitution or both: Jing Xu, Jinen Ma, Xiaoping Chen, Zewu Hu, Mei Zhao, Qi Hui Huang, Li Hua Lin Kelsey and Changhui Liu. The first trial dates have been set for June but likely will be delayed.