A Mountain Home woman has been charged with felony and misdemeanor offenses following an investigation into a local massage business. 55-year-old Lihua Yu is facing charges of criminal use of property or laundering criminal proceeds, a Class C felony, and promoting prostitution in the second degree, a Class A misdemeanor.According to a probable cause affidavit, Mountain Home police responded to complaints about sexual activity at Asian Sunny Massage. On Oct. 2, an undercover officer visited the business posing as a customer and paid for a 30-minute massage. After the massage, the officer engaged in a conversation with Yu regarding the possibility of sexual favors. The officer and Yu exchanged messages through an application on Yu’s phone and agreed on $100 for a sexual act. The officer left the business before the act occurred.
Police later executed a search warrant at the business on Oct. 16, seizing multiple checkbooks linked to different accounts, credit card receipts, cash, handwritten ledgers, and two cell phones. Homeland Security investigators reported that the phone number used by Yu had been linked to more than 1,300 adult escort websites.
Yu is being held in the Baxter County Detention Center and is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 20. Bond is set at $10,000.
WebReadyTM Powered by WireReady® NSI