Minnesota massage parlor owner accused of holding California woman captive to sell her for sex in locked room with no lights, no food, and no water for days - after promising her a job

A female massage parlor owner has been cuffed for allegedly holding a woman captive to sell her for sex.  

Ying He - the 55-year- old owner of Message Therapy in Willmar, Minnesota -  is now facing felony charges as a result, including the soliciting or inducing of someone to commit prostitution.

She also faces gross misdemeanor counts of Operating a Disorderly House and 5th Degree Assault, after the unnamed woman told cops she was locked in a small room at the business, and controlled when she could eat and bathe for several days.

According to the charges filed Tuesday, officers were called 1:30pm Saturday to the business, responding to a report of a woman screaming. They then were waved down by someone outside a neighboring store, before finding the woman inside.

The complaint recalls how she was upset and crying, and spoke to officers through a translation app on her phone. 

She said the suspect hit her in the head and would not let her drink water, cook food, or turn on the lights, while living in the 'locked... small room every day when there was not any business,' the complaint states.

Ying He - the 55-year- old owner of Message Therapy in Willmar, Minnesota - is now facing felony charges as a result, including the soliciting or inducing of someone to commit prostitution

The woman - who was subsequently hospitalized - later told police she'd been living at Massage Therapy since sometime after March 3.

That's was the day she flew from her native California to Minnesota under the pretense He was going to give her a job, with investigators learning more about her alleged ordeal during an interview at the hospital. 

'She stated she worked with an agency in Los Angeles looking for massage work,' the complaint recounts of the sit-down. 'She paid this agency $100 to find work and asked specifically for legitimate massage work and not involving "sex."'

The woman then told cops her flight cost $630, and that she was told by her new boss that she would pay half.

When she arrived, He - pictured in a Kandiyohi County mug shot - arranged for a taxi to pick her up for the airport, after which she regulated the woman's each and every move.

This included eating and bathing, cops wrote - adding that the suspect allegedly instructed her to 'do whatever the customer wanted her to do.'

Officials claim this referred to sex acts and sexual intercourse - acts that if  the woman refused, she would be met with reprimands and threats.

"She was not allowed to leave the business," cops wrote, charging that this was at He's behest.

'She was threatened that if she left, [He] would find her and [He's] boss in L.A. was a lawyer for the courts.'

She also faces gross misdemeanor counts of operating a Disorderly House and 5th Degree Assault, after the unnamed woman told cops she was locked in a small room at the business, and controlled when she could eat and bathe for several days

Police then eventually returned to the business, to hone in on He.

Upon their arrival, He was questioned, and denied hitting the woman or forcing her to live in the room inside the business.

Cops went on to ask her to provide a copy of the video footage to investigators, to which she obliged.

Upon perusing video footage the interaction, they looked for a particular, alleged incident that the victim had told them about - her being punched twice by He after refusing one of her orders.

The alleged strikes caused her to be dizzy and have a headache, she said - adding that the incident was likely captured on one of the business's surveillance cameras.

Cops wrote that He allegedly closed out of the video and claimed it was malfunctioning when it got to the part they were interested in, which they went on to view.

In the clip in question, He is allegedly shown punching the woman twice in the head as she passes him by, while at another point, a man in his underwear is shown in the hallway.

The victim, cops wrote, was struck as she was walking to the room she was forced to stay in.

Cops went on to conduct search of the business, eventually confiscating around a dozen items.

The evidence included several phones and sex toy whips, as well as several DNA swabs in the parlor's rooms.

He was arrested that days, and is charged in Kandiyohi County District Court with one felony count of soliciting an individual to practice prostitution and the two misdemeanors.

Unconditional bail was set at $150,000 and her next court appearance was scheduled for March 20.