Pair pleads guilty to operating illegal massage parlor in Federal Way - Federal Way Mirror

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Two King County residents who were accused of promoting prostitution, specifically at the former Apple Massage in Federal Way, among various other locations, have pleaded guilty and are now facing up to three and a half years in prison.

On April 29, Gerald Emtage, 49, whose last known address was in Seattle, and Jing Emtage, 53, whose last known address was in Burien, pleaded guilty to money laundering and seven counts of promoting prostitution. The state has recommended that they receive a sentence of 38 months. The maximum sentence they could receive is 43 months.

“Together with my husband and co-defendant Gerald Emtage, did operate an illicit massage parlor business. We owned and operated several massage parlors across Washington state where women we hired to perform massages were providing sexual services for monetary compensation,” Jing Emtage said. “I was aware of and encouraged, and assisted in the promotion of these activities, including providing transportation and accommodation for these women. My husband and were profiting from these unlawful acts of prostitution at our massage parlors.”

“I did conduct a financial transaction involving proceeds from promoting prostitution in the second degree, knowing that the transaction was designed in part to conceal and disguise the nature, location, source, ownership and control of the proceeds and acted recklessly as to whether the property was proceeds of such unlawful activity,” Gerald Emtage said. “I did knowingly advance and profit from the prostitution of ‘Alicia,’ ‘Mia,’ ‘Jenny,’ ‘Lisa,’ ‘Lucy,’ and ‘Eva.’ I committed these acts together with Jing Emtage.”

Leading organized crime profiteering was part of the pair’s original charges, but that charge is no longer included in the plea agreements. The pair will be sentenced on May 16 at the Maleng Regional Justice Center.

Details of the case

Documents state that the investigation into the pair’s massage parlors began in January 2021. Gerald and Jing Emtage were taken into police custody on May 2, 2023, after they were investigated from afar and up close for over two years.

“Over the course of two years, Gerald and Jing Emtage owned and operated an extensive criminal enterprise spanning four counties in Washington state and it appears that they may have been planning to expand their business to other states,” prosecutors allege in court documents. “During that time [they made] significant profits from the commercial sexual exploitation of dozens of women.”

Furthermore, prosecutors say: “While the victims slept and ate in the same buildings where they were required to provide sexual services to strange men, the defendants were living in a home valued at over a million dollars. While the defendants funneled over a million dollars through their bank accounts and hid hundreds of thousands of dollars in their home, there are no state records of any wages paid to their victims.”

The investigation began in January 2021 when a citizen complained to the King County Sheriff’s Office about a massage storefront in Seattle called Element Massage, according to charging documents. That business was owned by “J&J Relax Spa LLC,” which in turn was owned by the Emtages, according to police. Twelve total known massage businesses were operated under J&J.

The Federal Way location, “Apple Massage,” was located in the 28700 block of Pacific Highway South. The 432-square-foot wood frame building, and the 12,000 square foot property it sits on, were bought in late 2022 by “J&J 28707 LLC,” according to King County property records.

According to the Secretary of State’s website, Gerald Emtage was the governor of J&J 28707 LLC, which was formed Oct. 27, 2022 — about two weeks before the company bought the property.

The building was previously a rock chip car repair store, a barbershop and a clothing store, based on historical photographs from Google Images.

According to police, undercover detectives entered the J&J storefronts and posed as customers, paying for regular, non-sexual massages, according to charging documents. During those undercover operations, an “offer and agreement for a sexual act(s) was verbally agreed upon for an additional fee or ‘tip’ then declined by the detectives,” according to police. During each visit, they were offered sex acts in exchange for a fee.

A building owner also reported to law enforcement that she had discovered the Emtages had built an unpermitted wall at one of the businesses to create an apartment with a kitchen, bathroom, shower and bedroom. Detectives further obtained evidence that the women working in those businesses resided there.

Furthermore, police saw Jing Emtage take women from one business to another, including taking one woman directly from SeaTac airport to a massage business in Burlington. A seizure of Jing Emtage’s phone by Customs and Border Protection turned up extensive conversations about the storefronts, police said, which included discussions about collecting money, delivering condoms and moving workers around.

Detectives covertly followed the Emtages on a trip to Hawaii in April, working with local police there to track them as they visited a storefront massage business in Honolulu. On an undercover visit to that business, a woman who spoke little English offered sex acts to a detective, who declined, according to police.

Previous Federal Way Mirror reporting was used in this article.