EVANSVILLE — Two women have been arrested on prostitution charges following a month-long investigation into an Evansville spa.
Nianxian Xia, 41, and Shujuan Liu, 46, both face preliminary charges of prostitution and promoting prostitution, court records show. The two women were being held at the Vanderburgh County Jail between 11 p.m. Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Jail records show Liu is a resident of Evansville and Xia is a resident of Chicago.
Evansville police’s Street Crimes Unit began conducting surveillance on the Eleazar Spa in the 4300 block of Morgan Avenue in December after receiving a tip from the Indiana Gaming Commission about a “suspicious currency transaction report” that allegedly originated from Xia, according to a probable cause affidavit filed in the case. The affidavit did not elaborate further on the tip.
On Dec. 16, detectives reportedly spotted a man leaving the spa. The man, who was stopped by police as he drove away, reportedly told investigators that he “paid a woman for sex at Eleazar Spa.”
Two weeks later, a similar incident occurred with another man who delivered the same message. They each said they had been in contact with a woman who police later said matched Xia’s description. On Monday, the day the women were arrested, police said the same thing happened again, this time with a third man who said he was being sexually favored by a woman who called herself “Heidi.”
Throughout all this, detectives repeatedly staked out the spa and spotted a black Lexus allegedly registered to Ms. Xia parked outside after regular business hours, sometimes overnight, the affidavit said.
Detectives executed a search warrant on Eleazar on Monday. Inside, they found a “male … lying naked on a massage table,” along with items such as condoms, sex toys, “a large amount of U.S. dollars,” underwear and “multiple boxes of baby wipes,” according to the affidavit.
Detectives “determined” Liu and Xia were “responsible for the day-to-day operations of the business,” the affidavit said. Xia, whose Lexus keychain contained keys to the spa, reportedly said in a subsequent interview at EPA headquarters that the utility bills were in her name and she was responsible for paying the rent.
“Xia also told detectives that she was called ‘Heidi,'” the affidavit states.
Meanwhile, Liu reportedly “admitted to cleaning and maintaining the building,” detectives wrote.
“Based on the totality of the circumstances, your testator believes that both Liu Shujuan and Xia Nianxian knowingly engaged in sexual acts for money … and knowingly participated in maintaining a prostitution business,” the affidavit states.
Mr. Liu’s first hearing is scheduled for Friday in Vanderbilt Circuit Court. As of 10 a.m. Tuesday, records did not show a preliminary hearing scheduled for Xia. They are being held without bail.
This is the second time in the past five months that an Evansville spa has been at the center of a prostitution case. In October, police arrested Chen Ying of Brooklyn, New York, and Liu Qinghua of Flushing, New York. Each faces a Level 5 felony count of prostitution, while Chen is charged with an additional count of prostitution, a Class A misdemeanor.
The case is ongoing.
This article originally appeared in the Evansville Courier-Journal: Two women arrested on prostitution charges at Evansville spa
