Woman sentenced for pimping after sex trafficking charges at Des Moines massage parlor - The Des Moines Register

[William Morris]

A Des Moines woman has been sentenced to eight years in prison in connection with a prostitution ring operating from a massage parlor in north Des Moines.

Huiring Zhou, 43, was arrested in May 2024 and initially faced multiple charges of human trafficking. Prosecutors alleged she had been part of a scheme to recruit at least three people for involuntary servitude or commercial sex work, and that she had taken or concealed government identity documents from those individuals to make it harder for them to leave. Police said at the time that three victims were rescued as a result of a months-long investigation by the Des Moines police vice and narcotics unit.

The trafficking was alleged to have occurred at 852 Hull Ave., a commercial building on the boundary of the Union Park and Highland Park neighborhoods that housed a number of Asian-themed massage parlors under different names, dating back at least to 2016. One of those parlors was among the subjects of a three-part 2019 investigative series by Des Moines Register Reader's Watchdog Lee Rood, who sent customers equipped with recording devices to the establishments to document that the women there were, as reported on a website, providing sexual services.

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Zhou was scheduled to go to trial in April, but on Wednesday, she entered a plea of guilty to lesser charges. In a deal with prosecutors, she admitted to pimping, a felony, and three counts of leasing premises for prostitution.

The deal makes no mention of coercion or trafficking, only that Zhou leased rooms to the three individuals and did not terminate their leases when she learned they were engaged in prostitution.

Through her attorney, Zhou waived a separate sentencing hearing, and court filings show that on Thursday, Judge Joseph Seidlin sentenced her to five years for pimping and one year for each of the premises charges, for a consecutive total of eight years.

Zhou's attorney declined to comment on the resolution of the case.

William Morris covers courts for the Des Moines Register. He can be contacted at [email protected] or 715-573-8166.