HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Court records filed this month in Garland County reveal that a Friday, July 10 law enforcement raid at a Central Avenue massage business was part of a prostitution and suspected human trafficking investigation led by the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office.
Agents with the attorney general’s Special Investigations Division executed a search and seizure warrant at Sonny Spa, located at 5001 Central Ave. Suite D, according to records filed with the Garland County Circuit Clerk. The warrant authorized agents to search for evidence of promoting prostitution in the third degree and prostitution under Arkansas law.
The investigation began June 8, when a Garland County Sheriff’s Office Capt. contacted the attorney general’s office about a report from the Lake Hamilton Fire Marshal, according to an affidavit sworn by a Special Agent.
The Marshal attempted an annual inspection at the business and reported he was greeted by a woman wearing transparent lingerie, the affidavit states. The Fire Marshal told investigators it appeared people were living inside the business and that he saw several packages of unopened condoms on a stand in one of the massage rooms. He left the business and reported his concerns to GCSO, who asked the attorney general’s office to take over the investigation.
Investigators later documented a June 25 review posted to an online escort website describing paid sex acts at the business, according to the affidavit. On July 7, the agent located an advertisement for the spa’s address on a second website known for advertising commercial sex. The ad included photos of young women and listed the business name as Sonny Spa.
Judge Lynn Williams signed the search warrant July 9. Agents executed it the following day.
A property receipt filed with the warrant return shows agents seized four cell phones, condoms hidden in false-bottom containers disguised as a corn can, a coffee creamer container and a thermos, condoms concealed in a ceiling, and more than $4,000 in cash. The cash was found in locations including a pair of shoes and a freezer, according to the receipt. The receipt also lists $500 in buy money and change given to an undercover officer, indicating an undercover operation was part of the investigation.
Employees found at the business were escorted to a safe house, according to a separate affidavit filed in the case. The affidavit states the workers were asked to leave and were not made to leave.
While agents were executing the warrant, a man entered the business and told agents the manager had asked him to check on employees she could not reach, according to the affidavit. After being read his rights, the man told investigators he used an escort website to find massage parlors and regularly transported a worker from the business to parlors in other states. He said he arranged paid sexual encounters with the woman by text message and used a translation app to communicate with her.
The man told agents he was asked to serve as the woman’s “paper husband” but declined, the affidavit states. In a follow-up email to investigators, he identified possible related massage parlors in Florida, Louisiana, and Texas, along with other parlors he said he had visited in Kentucky and Indiana.
The agent wrote in his affidavit that promoting prostitution is often linked to human trafficking and that communication between operators and workers can begin before a business opens. A second affidavit in the case states that human trafficking is an organized enterprise and that traffickers typically have more than one victim at a time.
Circuit judges approved additional warrants July 14 authorizing forensic extractions of the seized devices, including the phone of the man who arrived during the raid. Warrant returns show those extractions were completed by July 16, with data collection limited to February 2024 and later.
No charges had been filed in connection with the investigation as of Monday that ABN can find.
Arkansas Breaking News has requested comment from the Arkansas Attorney General’s Office and Arkansas State Police.
