Four people associated with two State Street massage parlors were arrested Thursday, accused of either illegally performing massages or allowing others to do so.
The four were taken into custody as part of a state police Community Narcotics Enforcement Team operation that involved city police.
Charged with performing massages without the state-required license, a felony, were Meifen Wu, 50, of Queens, and Yan Wang, 42, of New York City. Charged with criminal facilitation, a misdemeanor, were Ming Xia, 29, of Jackson Avenue, Schenectady, and Foo Yoke, 51, of Elmhurst. Yoke is also listed in papers as Yoke Foo.
Xia and Wang were charged related to the Body and Skin Spa, 1760 State St., while Wu and Yoke were charged related to the Green Flower Spa, 1119 State St. The illegal massages were performed Wednesday evening, one at each location, authorities said.
All four were arraigned Thursday in City Court using a Mandarin interpreter who translated the proceedings by video link.
All but Xia had only been in Schenectady for a matter of days —. Xia had lived in Schenectady for about 10 months.
Wang said her trip to Schenectady came after she answered a newspaper ad.
“I needed a job, need to support my daughter, so I came up,” she said through the interpreter.
Wang’s teenage daughter was present and helped translate among attorneys Steve Signore and Brendan Keller and their clients.
City Court Judge Matthew Sypniewski initially set Wang’s bail at $750 with the provision that she surrender her passport. But after determining her passport was in a New York City safe deposit box that only she could access, Sypniewski increased the bail to $1,500 and removed the passport requirement.
Wu’s bail was also set at $1,500, while bail for both Yoke and Xia was set at $500.
They are to return to court Tuesday.
Categories: Schenectady County
