OAN’s Abril Elfi
12:42 PM – Tuesday, July 18, 2023
Law enforcement officials served a warrant at Massage Experts, a massage parlor based in Pickerington, Ohio, that is suspected of acting as a front for human trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering.
As of Monday morning, Pickerington police and Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation were encircling the strip mall next to the business’s location, and the area was blocked off with crime scene tape.
The Ohio attorney general’s office claimed that numerous search warrants were being served inside the parlor by human trafficking unit detectives who believed the establishment to be a cover for illicit human trafficking, prostitution, and money laundering.
The authorities served the search warrants after conducting their eight-month investigation, according to a separate statement from Pickerington police. Officials stayed on the scene in order to process the evidence in the parlor which was located at 1234 Hill Rd. North.
The attorney general’s office reported that in addition to the strip mall location, authorities executed a search warrant at a separate private residence in the same city as part of the parlor investigation.
Among the organizations working alongside each other in the investigation are the City of Pickerington Zoning Development, Homeland Security officials, and the State of Ohio Medical Board.
Pickerington police are now asking anyone who has specific information pertaining to the crimes that allegedly took place at the establishment to contact them at 614-575-6911.
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