Police Arrest 11 In Prostitution Ring Raid

Customers kept coming to the door even as police were raiding a downtown house that authorities said was part of a multi-state prostitution ring.

Eleven people were arrested during Tuesday night’s raid for investigation of conspiracy to promote prostitution, police Capt. Dan Hansen said.

Four of the five women arrested, aged 19-25, were believed to be illegal aliens from Laos, Taiwan and Thailand, and were turned over to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, Hansen said.

Also arrested were Hoi G. Hoang, 25, of Redmond, and Johnson Tang, 33, of Seattle, who were believed to have operated the establishment, and Kien Sanh Lu, 23, of Kirkland, who allegedly referred customers to the house, Hansen said.

Three customers who were inside the house also were arrested. Seven customers who showed up during the raid were identified and released without being arrested.

Hansen said police believe the operation involved “more than just the house in Bellevue.”

“These women rotate between different houses in the United States,” he said. “One of the operators will call one of the girls and tell her there is an airline ticket waiting for her. She flies into Seattle and is met by one of the operators, who takes her to the house. She has to work there to pay off the airline ticket.”

“We feel it’s not exactly slavery,” he added. “But we think there was some coercion of these girls. The majority of the young women were illegal aliens. That was hanging over their heads.”

Hansen said records found in the home indicated the women came from houses in Oklahoma, Sacramento, Calif., and Los Angeles. Several other cities also were involved, he said.