The HCM City People’s Court yesterday, Jan 27, sentenced a 38-year-old man to 12 years in prison for running a sex-ring operation involving at least five massage parlours in HCM City.

HCM City native Phan Cao Tri was first charged in 2008 after police discovered illegal practices at the massage parlors.

The manager of the massage parlor, Phan Viet Hau, 28, received a 10-year prison term for property extortion and illegal detention of young women hired as masseuses.

The women were in their late teens to early twenties.

Phan Quoc Cuong, 33, who trained girls in sexual techniques, received a nine-year sentence on the same charge.

The court also sentenced Phan Thi Yen, 32, Tri’s wife, to six years in jail for her involvement in the parlors’ activities.

Two massage-parlor staff, Nguyen Minh Phuong and Nguyen Hoai Nhanh, got three and two years, respectively.

At the trial, which began on Monday, all of the indicted denied the charges, but based on the evidence of 28 prosecutors and testimony of 60 detained masseuses, the People’s Procuracy said Tri and his employees had violated the law.

Police said a total of 137 women were kept against their will for sex exploitation at the massage parlors.

In 2008, police found Tri at one of his massage centres called Tan Hoang Phat in Thu Duc District and charged him with violating the rights of 71 women and illegally detaining and beating 66 others.

To earn high profits, Tri and his staff forced the masseuses at the parlors to work from 9am until the next morning.

After working hours, they were watched carefully at the couple’s private house.

According to police, one woman said that some of them had been kept in dog cages after trying to escape from the house. At least 10 bodyguards were assigned to watch the women at the house.

When they were detained at the house or when customers complained about services, the girls were beaten or forced to clean toilets.

One woman who worked for the couple said each woman signed a contract that called for a training fee of VND9 million (US$450).

The contract required the women to pay the employers VND15 million ($750) if they quit their jobs. However, most of them had no savings and could not do so.

They were given VND2.6 million ($130) for meals each month and an average of VND600,000 ($30) monthly salary.

The young women were trained on how to make physical contact that would lead to sexual arousal of their customers. Those who refused to perform these acts were beaten.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News