Tri-Cities business linked to human trafficking organized crime case, say police

A Kennewick massage business was searched Wednesday as part of a statewide human trafficking investigation.

Kennewick police helped federal agents search a massage business at 6201 W. Clearwater Ave. at 10:30 a.m. The effort was part of a larger series of searches across Washington state focused on human trafficking, Kennewick Sgt. Chris Littrell told the Tri-City Herald.

No business name is posted on the building but posters covering the windows show women getting massages.

A news release from the Wenatchee-based Columbia River Drug Task Force says the massage parlor was part of a alleged human trafficking organization led by Linhui Yan, 60, and Yan Yang, 43, both from Tacoma.

Warrants have been issued for leading an organized crime organization, money laundering and promoting prostitution in Chelan County Superior Court.

The task force was first alerted to two Wenatchee businesses that were acting as a front for prostitution, according to the release.

As they investigated, five locations were identified and searched on Wednesday, including two in Tacoma and the one in Kennewick.

The operation included the Chelan, Douglas and Pierce county sheriff’s offices, the Wenatchee, East Wenatchee and Kennewick police departments, the South Sound Gang Task Force, Department of Corrections, FBI and Department of Homeland Security.

Littrell said the business is the only one in Kennewick linked to the investigation.

No one had been booked into the Benton County jail as of Thursday morning in connection with the search.

The business at the corner of Clearwater Avenue and McKinley Street is one of several in the small strip mall that include a driving school, dog grooming business and audio visual recording service.

This is not the first time that Yan has been tied to human trafficking.

In 2019, he was caught in Lake Charles, La., as part of a similar allegations. The misdemeanor charges were dismissed after paying court costs, according to a media report.