MCLENNAN COUNTY, Texas — The McLennan County Sheriff's Office has arrested a woman they believe to be behind a massage parlor sex trafficking operation. Lirong Tong was arrested by McLennen County Deputies Wednesday around 9 p.m. at a massage parlor in San Marcos, Texas. She is facing a charge of engaging in organized criminal activity and is currently in the Hays County jail.
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara told 6 News his office has been investigating massage parlors over the last four months in multiple cities in Texas. McNamara said they have worked with other law enforcement to shut down parlors in Killeen, San Antonio, and Houston. He said they tracked down Tong by following the money flowing from the parlors.
McNamara said the sex trafficking rings are normally organized in three tiers, with the owners of the parlors on top. Then come the people managing the parlors and the girls working the parlors and being trafficked on the bottom level. He said Tong is believed to be an owner.
"Tong is on the top level," McNamara said. "She was living in Buda. They put these parlors in, these girls in, and then they remove themselves. They are not living next door, they like to be as far removed as they can."
The McLennan County Sheriff's Office is still investigating just how many Parlors Tong was managing.
In a joint news conference with the Bell County Sheriff's Office on Wednesday, McNamara discussed the human trafficking investigation and said 10 women have been rescued from the operation so far. He later told 6 News their operation is supporting a troubling trend concerning investigated parlors.
"We've gone into several and a very small number of them are legitimate massage parlors," McNamara said. "Most of them are parlors that are selling sex."
McNamara also asked the pubic to keep a watch on any new parlors that pop up in the area. He said their are several signs a parlor may be part of a sex trafficking ring.
First, the parlors typically serve mostly men. Second, the parlors seem to be open at all hours and have men continue to come and go at odd times. Third, the women employees rarely leave.
The McLennan County Sheriff's Office investigation into these parlors is still going at this time.
"We are going to shut down some more. We are going to be making more arrests," McNamara said.
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