Juan Wang and her husband, Joseph Emery, the owners of Jade Massage Therapy LLC, each face a charge of engaging in organized criminal activity. Neither suspect was listed as an inmate at the Travis County Jail on Tuesday afternoon.
The investigation into the massage parlor began Feb. 7, when the property manager for the Jade Massage called police to express her suspicion that prostitution was happening at the business.
She "became aware of a problem when an industrial waste disposal unit connecting the property to city sewer services became clogged and destroyed by hundreds of condoms," affidavits for Wang and Emery state.
After the discovery of the destroyed pipes, police searched Backpage.com, which often solicits prostitution services, for advertisements for the business.
They found several. Advertisements for Jade Massage were posted on Backpage.com as often as two to three times per day, the affidavits state.
Further investigation into the couple revealed Wang had been stopped Feb. 5 at Austin Bergstrom International Airport by a TSA agent who found $30,000 in "duct taped bundles" of cash in her possession.
She claimed the money was earned from her massage business and that she was taking it with her to China to pay for a medical procedure. She was allowed to pass through with the money, but only after the agent called Emery to verify her story.
Ledgers for Jade Massage showed no payments to the women, but they did show that Jade Massage's customers, almost all of whom were men, regularly tipped between $40 and $120 on top of a $60 charge.
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