Woman who ran massage parlours offering sexual services gets jail and fine along with fall guys
Hu Jiaochan ran several unlicensed massage parlours, hiring people to front the business and take the fall if needed.
File photo of someone giving a massage. (Photo: Unsplash/Conscious Design)
Lydia Lam
@LydiaLamCNA10 Nov 2022 11:41AM (Updated: 10 Nov 2022 11:41AM)
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SINGAPORE: A woman who ran unlicensed massage parlours which offered illicit sexual services was sentenced to jail and a fine on Wednesday (Nov 9), along with two fall guys or "dua pek gongs" who fronted the illegal businesses.
Hu Jiaochan, 41, was sentenced to 20 days' jail and a fine of S$16,000.
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The first fall guy, 52-year-old Chia Choon Huat, was given two months and five weeks' jail and a fine of S$10,400.
The second fall guy, 63-year-old Ho Meng Seng, was given two weeks' jail and a fine of S$11,000.
The court heard that Hu, a China national, first opened a shop along Beach Road in December 2016 where co-accused Zhang Yan was employed to work as a masseuse.
In 2018, Hu proposed a partnership with Zhang, a 44-year-old China national, to jointly operate massage establishments.
The two women opened a parlour named 82 Beauty Atrium at Horne Road in the Jalan Besar area.
To conceal their involvement, they decided to engage Chia as a "fall guy" or "dua pek gong". This refers to men, usually older ones, who are hired to front massage parlours and take the rap if the business ran into trouble with the law.
Chia was paid S$1,000 a month for his role.
He gave his personal information, his Singpass password and a copy of his NRIC to the two women, who registered Chia as the sole proprietor of 82 Beauty Atrium.
They also used Chia's particulars to rent the premises at 82 Horne Road and for CPF contributions to be made to workers at the outlet through Chia's Singpass account.
On Aug 27, 2018, the police raided 82 Beauty Atrium and found that sexual services were being provided there.
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It was discovered that Hu and Zhang did not hold a valid licence to operate the outlet as a massage parlour.
PARTIES LIED TO POLICE AFTER RAID
Chia lied to the police that he was the operator of the outlet. He was charged in court in December 2018 with operating a massage establishment without a licence.Hu knew about this and took note of Chia's court dates. Despite this, Hu and Zhang went on to open two other massage establishments known as 82 Beauty Atrium and Winter Leaf Beauty in Jalan Besar.
Again, the pair hired a fall guy. Ho was paid S$1,000 a month for his help.
Ho was registered as the sole proprietor of Winter Leaf Beauty and 82 Beauty Atrium. His name was also used for the payment of expenses such as utilities and foreign worker levies.
Hu arranged for additional workers to come from China to work at both massage outlets and collected a fee from them.
The workers were told that Ho was their boss, even though none of them had seen him before.
On Mar 27, 2019, the police raided the 82 Beauty Atrium outlet in Jalan Besar. A man was there after receiving WeChat messages offering sexual services at the outlet.
The police raided the Winter Leaf Beauty outlet the next day.
HU'S INSTRUCTIONS
After workers in both massage parlours were arrested, Ho was tasked to bail them out from the police station to reinforce the impression that he was their boss.Hu also asked the workers to sign documents stating that Ho was their employer. She warned them not to tell the police the truth.
In her own statement to the police in May 2019, Hu lied that she was merely an employment agent, and that Ho was the boss of the 82 Beauty Atrium outlet.
Ho similarly lied to the police in April 2019, saying he had bought the Jalan Besar outlet from Chia in March 2019 for S$5,000. He claimed that he had interviewed and employed the workers and paid their salaries in cash.
He also claimed that he went to the outlet once or twice a week and that Zhang would assist him in running operations in his absence. He claimed that he did not know Hu.
Hu pleaded guilty to four charges of running a massage business without a licence and giving false information to the police, with another eight charges taken into consideration.
Chia pleaded guilty to five charges, including living in part on prostitution earnings, allowing premises to be used as a brothel and lying to the police. Another six charges were taken into consideration.
Ho admitted to three charges, including allowing the premises to be used by Hu and Zhang for a massage business and giving false information to the police, with another five taken into consideration.
Zhang was previously jailed for 10 days and fined S$8,000 for her role.
