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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 9, 2010 Operator Also Paid Bribes to Undercover Officer Posing as Corrupt Cop
The operator of an Asian call-girl ring working in and around Chicago’s Chinatown community over the last several years has been arrested and charged with prostitution-related offenses, and bribery for paying protection money to an undercover police officer he believed to be corrupt, Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez announced today. Sheng Quan Dong, 37, of 4505 S. Richmond, Chicago, appeared in bond court today along with his wife and four other individuals following a long-term, covert investigation conducted by the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and the Chicago Police Department into sex trafficking and identity-fraud offenses occurring in the Chicago area. Dong has been charged with numerous felony offenses including Pandering, Keeping a Place of Prostitution and Bribery. Also arrested and charged was Dong’s wife, Li Xia Zhao, 33, also of 4505 S. Richmond, Chicago. Zhao has been charged with Solicitation, Keeping a Place of Prostitution and Pimping. Shortly after her husband was taken into custody, she was arrested by investigators yesterday as she attempted to access a safety deposit box belonging to the couple. According to investigators, beginning in 2006 and continuing through late 2007, Dong is accused of paying nearly $18,000 in cash bribes to an undercover police officer as “protection money” to shield his prostitution operations from potential police raids or arrests. The bribes were typically delivered in envelopes containing $1000 installments during meetings between Dong and the undercover officer at a coffee shop near the Chinatown area where the two communicated in the Mandarin language. According to prosecutors, Dong has been the long-term operator of several so-called brothels in the Chinatown area that provided prostitution services to customers who often learned of the operations through word of mouth, advertisements in Chinese newspapers, or via the internet. Dong would typically employ Asian women whom he would fly into Chicago from other cities to work part time or full time shifts for weeks at a time at one of his brothel locations. According to investigators, the women were instructed by Dong to charge $120 to each customer for sexual services and they were then required to pay Dong $40 for each customer that they engaged in sex with. The women were typically Korean, Malaysian, Vietnamese or Chinese nationals who were living in states around the country including New York, Texas and Indiana. “Criminal enterprises, like this one, present an enhanced threat to public safety when they combine their illegal businesses with identity fraud and bribery,” said Alvarez. “We will continue the crack down on these organized rings on every front using every legal tool at our disposal.” The most recent brothel operated by Dong, where the additional arrests were made this week, was located in the Chinatown neighborhood at 478 W. 25th Place. During the takedown, State’s Attorney Investigators and Chicago Police recovered more than $30,000 in cash at the brothel, the Dong residence and safety deposit boxes. Also arrested and charged in the investigation were: The state investigation, which included court orders permitting the undercover officers to “wear wires” during their covert meetings (otherwise known as consensual overhears), also developed information that later led to a major federal indictment of a fraudulent identification document ring operating in Chinatown. In February of 2009, the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI in cooperation with Chicago Police charged 19 defendants with operating an illegal document mill in Chinatown that provided false identification to predominantly Chinese, Korean and Indonesian nationals who were smuggled into or were in the United States illegally.
Cook County State's Attorney's Office:
Press Releases
Anita Alvarez
Cook County State's Attorney
Communications Department
Chicago, IL 60602
(312) 603-3423
saomedia@cookcountygov.com
State's Attorney's Office Announces Take-Down
of Chinatown Prostitution Ring
Alvarez thanked her Financial Crimes and Human Trafficking prosecutors, as well as the Chicago Police Department, for their work in the investigation.