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Englewood police arrested the alleged madam, a 51-year-old Flushing, Queens woman, and let three much younger Chinese women go who admitted they were freely working for her following a Christmas Eve bust on Brookside Avenue, Detective Capt. Timothy Torell told CLIFFVIEW PILOT.
They grabbed all four as they pulled up in a 2013 Lexus that Torell said was filled with hundreds of new condoms.
“Young Chinese women, many of whom are in the United States illegally, are often lured to a particular location by brothel operators under the guise of an honest day’s work,” the captain said. “Flushing, Queens is a very popular trolling ground.
“By the time these young women, often in their late teens, realize the jobs promised involve prostitution, the operators already have their personal information, including family members’ names and addresses back in China,” he said.
“If the women refuse to cooperate, they are often imprisoned inside a particular location and/or harm is threatened against their family members back in mainland China.”
As a result, Englewood detectives contacted the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office Human Trafficking Division, which participated in the court-approved searches and arrests.
Jing Hong Xia was being held on $11,500 bail in the Bergen County Jail, charged with promoting prostitution and maintaining a nuisance.
Additional charges — and arrests — are possible, Torell said.
MUGSHOT: Courtesy ENGLEWOOD PD
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