Alleged Human Traffickers Likely Tipped Off Ahead Of Massage Parlor Raids
The story of a comedy of errors that probably blew a statewide, multi-agency investigation into prostitution, human trafficking, and money laundering
On the morning of March 1, officers with the Columbia River Drug Task Force raided two Wenatchee massage parlors after a months-long investigation into prostitution, human trafficking and organized crime. They were just two of five locations raided by authorities across the state, and all were found empty. The suspects, as well as the women they were allegedly trafficking, were gone.
The husband and wife team wanted for the crimes, 60-year-old Linhui Yan and 43-year-old Yan Yang, had eluded a team of investigators that included officers from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Wenatchee Police Department, East Wenatchee Police Department, Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, Kennewick Police Department, South Sound Gang Task Force, Department of Corrections, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Homeland Security.
Until now, how they managed to learn of their imminent arrest and flee has been the object of much speculation.
One tipster reached out with an allegation of “a leak” in the Chelan County Prosecutor’s office. After looking into it, I’d say espionage is highly unlikely. What is much more likely, and simple, is that plain old ineptitude led to a comedy of errors that resulted in the suspects reading online about their homes and businesses getting raided almost a day before the raids actually took place.