OREM, Utah, Feb. 26, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — The owner of a local massage parlor was arrested Tuesday, accused of multiple counts of prostitution, according to a probable cause statement filed in Utah County.
Rong Guan, 47, owner of the Beauty Massage Parlor in Orem, was booked into Utah County Jail, charged with engaging in a pattern of unlawful activity, a second-degree felony; and four counts of prostitution, a class B misdemeanor.
The probable cause statement says the Orem Police Department received a report on Oct. 30, 2018, stating that “a worker described as about 5 feet tall, medium build, wearing inappropriate clothing during the massage made a hand gesture” imitating a sexual act. She reportedly asked “You don’t want me to?”
Law enforcement then began making traffic stops, when there was probable cause, as they observed men leaving the business.
During one such stop, a man stated to the officer that “the therapist was not very good at the massage.” The man said the woman had pointed at his genital area and made a sexual gesture, nodded at him and “asked if he wanted?”
On Feb. 18 of this year, Orem PD received a call from an Orem resident who reported that he was sexually solicited at the Beauty Massage Parlor. A phone statement was taken, and the complainant was interviewed by police the next day.
He gave police a written statement, in which he said he had decided to get a massage for his back pain and Beauty Massage took walk-ins.
He described the worker as an Asian female in her late 30s, heavier set, wearing short denim shorts and a tight shirt. When he was shown a photo of Guan, he identified her as the woman in the massage parlor.
He further said the woman told him she preferred payment in cash, but he didn’t have enough cash, so he paid with a card.
The woman then directed him to a room, where he undressed and left a towel over his backside. The same woman who took his payment conducted the massage.
The man said the woman seemed “untrained,” and that she then removed his towel, leaving him completely nude, face-down on the table. Just a short while later, he said, the woman grabbed his genital area and asked, “You want this?” implying that she would rub him.
The man said he told her, “No,” and she began massaging his legs instead, but she asked him, “No? You scared?” He said he then told her forcefully that he did not want that.
The man told police he felt so uncomfortable with the encounter, he told the woman he had to leave and asked her to go out of the room so he could get dressed. As she left the room, he said, she stopped and said, “You leave big tip. Big tip,” emphasizing the “big.”
When he left the room, he saw the worker at the front desk. He told the police that as he was trying to leave, she asked him more than once how big a tip he was leaving for her. He said he lied and told her he left the tip in the room.
On Feb. 19, investigating officers conducted a traffic stop on a vehicle for failure to come to a complete stop and failure to signal, the probable cause statement says. The vehicle was leaving the massage parlor, and the driver agreed to talk with police about his visit.
That man described the woman in much the same as the way the previous men had described her, and he also said she had made the hand gestures indicating a sexual act.
Officers conducted surveillance at Beauty Massage, and on Feb. 26, a search warrant was served at the business and at Guan’s apartment on Orem Boulevard. Guan was found at the business and was taken into custody.
According to the probable cause statement, Guan was advised of her Miranda Rights at the police station and said she wanted a lawyer present before she would speak with police.
