10 arrested in massage parlor sting


May 25, 2012 · 2:52 PM

 

Bellevue Police officers arrested 10 people and cited three others Thursday for having fraudulent massage practitioner licenses.

The arrests are part of an on-going investigation of people submitting suspected counterfeit Chinese school and licensing credentials while filling out the Practitioner Licensing Applications requited by the Washington State Department of Health.

The investigations have shown that the individuals suspected of committing these acts were unable to receive the listed massage training in China during the times listed on the applications.

To date, 20 individuals have been arrested by Bellevue Police as a result of this investigation.

The investigation began in September, 2011 when the Bellevue Police vice division received information from the state health department and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) that a number of regional massage practitioner’s licenses had been obtained fraudulently.

During the Thursday arrests, HSI and U.S. Customs and Border Protection provided Mandarin translators.

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