West Side residents among six accused of running prostitution ring

SEATTLE – Six people have been charged with running what officials say was an organized prostitution ring.

U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes said the six advertised their prostitution business on the Backpage.com. Some of the members rented apartments, transported sex workers to various locations and collected money.

According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Seattle, they made hundreds of thousands of dollars through the prostitution of Asian sex workers.

Hayes said Fang Wang of Queens, New York, was the apparent leader of the operation. Wang was arrested in Columbus, Georgia.

Also arrested were Seattle residents Yongguang Wu, Yunzhong Chen, Yaoan He and Zhaofeng Zhang, and Renton, Washington, resident Steven Thompson.

They were charged with conspiracy to use a communication facility to promote prostitution. They made their initial court appearance on Friday.