METHUEN — Bail has been set at $25,000 cash for the manager of a spa where police say sexual favors were being supplied by victims of human trafficking.
Suping Zhu, 38, of Flushing, New York, was arraigned in Lawrence District Court on Monday on charges related to human trafficking and prostitution. Prosecutors sought $75,000 in cash bail. Zhu’s attorney Bryan Kerman, however, advocated for lower bail, saying police failed to prove that Zhu was in charge of the operation.
According to police, Zhu is the manager of Beauty Garden Spa, 5 Wallace St., Methuen. She is also a mother, her attorney said.
If convicted of charges including trafficking a person for sexual servitude and keeping a house of prostitution, Zhu could face a minimum sentence of two to five years behind bars, depending on whether she is indicted in a higher court, Assistant District Attorney Jessica Fleet said.
Police are also seeking an arrest warrant for another individual who appears to be involved in operating the parlor, according to court documents.
Fleet said the investigation into the spa began in 2023 when the business was operated under a different name. She said community members reported seeing women with luggage outside the spa, or women arriving but not seeming to ever leave the building.
According to a 2025 police report by Detective Tracey Noonan, neighboring businesses with a shared access point to the spa locked their doors due to male clients of the parlor entering their business looking for massages.
In one case a client argued with a shop owner and demanded a massage, Fleet said. Police further received reports of empty boxes of condoms strewn across the parking lot.
At one point during the investigation police stopped two cars near the business and two males admitted they had received sexual favors from women at the spa.
Kerman said the state lacked evidence that Zhu was the owner of the business and that while the investigation started in May 2023, Zhu was not identified as being involved until a search warrant this month.
“(There’s) nothing to suggest that she was ultimately running this business,” Kerman said.
Ownership of the spa changed in 2025 alongside a change of name from Silky Rose Spa. The business was then registered to another individual, with Zhu as the guarantor, according to a police report.
Fleet also pointed to Zhu’s out-of-state and out-of-country ties when asking for a higher bail.
Methuen police Chief Scott McNamara said officials are still working to unravel ownership of the spa, which he said is purposely murky. He added it is also common for businesses to change their name and ownership after being shut down, as well as to move workers to another location.
In September police reported a BMW with a New York registration arriving at the business. Zhu was seen carrying boxes to and from the spa, they said. Residents reported to police that they had also seen the BMW transporting other asian females with luggage into the building.
Fleet said during the course of the investigation an undercover police officer entered the spa and was met by Zhu. She said Zhu touched the officer’s chest.
“This is a familiar tactic to observe his reaction in an attempt to identify law enforcement agents,” Noonan wrote in the police report.
A woman gave the officer a message and told him she was originally from China and had just started working at the parlor a couple days earlier.
Noonan wrote that the woman told him she works from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. seven days a week. She previously worked at other spas, she said, and emphasized “that she works hard because she wants a good life.”
Fleet, however, said that during the massage the female worker offered the officer a sexual favor for additional money.
In an interview, Zhu said she didn’t have answers to most questions.
“When asked what her position or job was at the business she placed her hands over her eyes and appeared to be crying,” Noonan wrote. “She related she was embarrassed and didn’t want to say anything.”
During the search of the building police found sleeping quarters and a living space in the basement of the parlor. According to police, two women had been living there.
McNamara said police have been checking on the alleged victims and offered them help.
The court hearing was conducted with the assistance of a Chinese Mandarin interpreter.
Along with bail, Zhu was ordered not to contact witnesses or alleged victims, to surrender her passports and to stay out of Massachusetts once she returns to New York, which she told District Court Judge Edward Karcasinas she would do if released.
A probable cause hearing was set for Oct. 24 over Zoom.