Ping!
Okay, I gotta ask it...are these jobs Americans won't do?
And another ran-dumb thought...are there any business sectors that don't have illegals working in them?
Posted on 04/12/2006 9:06:46 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
Santa Ana - A Southern California woman was in custody in Texas Wednesday on charges of operating brothels in Dallas and the Los Angeles area using women smuggled into the country from South Korea and Mexico.
Jong Ock Mao, 47, of West Covina was arrested Tuesday in Madisonville, Texas after a 40-count indictment was unsealed in Santa Ana federal court accusing her and three others of conspiracy, money laundering and violating the Travel Act, a federal law that prohibits the use of interstate facilities to conduct illegal business.
Federal agents raided six businesses, including tanning salons, chiropractic offices and spas, that authorities said were fronts for brothels. There were between three and 18 women working in each of brothels, and many were prostituting to pay off smuggling fees, said Buckley Thomas, a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigator.
Mao, the alleged leader of the brothel operation, was ordered held in Houston on $150,000 bond and authorities were working to extradite her to California, said customs spokeswoman Virginia Kice. Authorities were also looking into possible immigration violations because Mao is a Korean national living in the United States without a green card, Kice said.
Federal agents also arrested Edward Lutt, 43, of Paramount and Randall Johnson, 51, of Los Angeles. A fourth defendant, 49-year-old Charles Fields of Long Beach, was being sought. Lutt was suspected of managing the day-to-day operation of the brothels, while Johnson and Fields allegedly appeared as owners of the businesses even though Mao was "the de facto owner" of the brothels, the indictment said.
Authorities were working to seize more than $4 million in assets, including bank accounts, homes and four private motocross tracks in California, Texas and Florida owned by Mao.
"This is an extremely lucrative business, it generates millions of dollars that are funneled into other businesses," Thomas said. "It's a whole underground economy and it's all tax-free."
The arrests are part of an ongoing investigation that resulted last July's indictment of 24 people accused of smuggling South Korean women into the country and providing them to brothel operators. The women worked off smuggling fees as high as $15,000, authorities said. Fifteen of the defendants have pleaded guilty, five were awaiting trial and four were being sought.
Doing the johns American hookers won't do?
Okay, I gotta ask it...are these jobs Americans won't do?
And another ran-dumb thought...are there any business sectors that don't have illegals working in them?
are there any business sectors that don't have illegals working in them?
ummmm,,No.
None come to mind , right off the top of my head.
The illegals needs their "services".
Inspired tag line you're sporting there. :)
Sexual slavery?
saw it this morning on a thread, a fellow freeper came up with it, I just borrowed it.;-)
I heard they picked up the madam's assistants, Luv U Longtim and Mei So Hony.
smuggling fees of 15,000 bucks=slavery 'til its paid off, some might call it indentured servitude. Its a crime either way.
I guess one could call the military a business, it is a profession, for sure, and a proud one. ;-)
Kicking arse and taking names is as old as the hills.
So I think all bases are covered.
Now why would we want to give her back to Calif?
Sorry I'm late, honey, had to drop by the chiropracters for an "adjustment".
Oh, my aching back.
In light of this story,
Caption this pic.
I am headed to Texas in a month or two, were you able to get any phone numbers????
Is prostitution illegal in Texas and California?
" Its a crime either way."
Seems at least to be a good case for RACKETEERING (Rico Act). Will be following to see what happens, not only interstate, but international. Korean madame illegal. Human Trafficking, Slavery (paying off smugglers).
Similar case in Australia. Smuggling Heroin from Indonesia to Australia. Ten (10)student couriers were tried (Death sentence for some in Australia for trafficking Heroin) the korean lady organizer disappeared . Last I heard death and life prison sentences were being appealed. Penalty for smuggling heroin into Australia is death much of the time, yet people still do it. The Australian Students were paid $10,000 which they wanted for student tuition.
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