Owner of alleged Tri-Cities illicit massage parlors arrested. Wife still on the run

The owner of several suspected illicit massage parlors in the Tri-Cities has been arrested more than a year after one of his Kennewick businesses was raided as part of a state-wide human trafficking investigation.

Linhui Yan, 61, was arrested Wednesday as part of the investigation in Chelan County, according to a social media post from the Chelan County Sheriff’s Department.

Investigators said Yan, who lives in Pierce County, fled the U.S. after a series of raids at massage parlors he owned in Chelan and Benton counties.

Those suspected illicit massage parlors include the Clearwater Avenue business where former Kennewick Mayor Bill McKay admitted to paying for sexual services.

Kennewick police believed Yan may have been tipped off before the raids, because the Clearwater business was cleared out before they arrived. It’s unclear if investigators suspect who may have warned the owners.

Yan was recently arrested in King County as he reentered the country, but was released from the King County Jail before investigators could request he be transported to Chelan County, according to the Chelan County Sheriff’s Office.

Chelan County worked with Pierce County detectives to have Yan arrested earlier this week, and he was returned to Chelan County. He is being held in the Chelan County Jail without bail.

Yan and his wife owned 13 massage clinics in Washington state and were charged with felonies related to Lin Massage in Wenatchee, according to the Washington state Department of Health.

Felony charges

Court documents show Yan is facing felony charges of leading and profiting from organized crime, money laundering and second-degree promotion of prostitution.

They believe his wife, Yan Yang, has not returned to the United States. She is wanted on the same charges.

State officials took action last summer to suspend his license pending further proceedings and then made the suspension indefinite when he did not contest the action.

In the Tri-Cities, state documents show he owns Lin’s Massage businesses on Vista Way and North Volland Street in Kennewick and Angel Massage on Clearwater Avenue.

He also had a second Clearwater Avenue business that was raided in March as part of a human trafficking investigation led by the Wenatchee-based Columbia River Drug Task Force.

At the time, his businesses were among 17 suspected illicit massage parlors in Kennewick and 31 in the Tri-Cities. No other owners of massage businesses have been arrested or charged in the Tri-Cities.

Kennewick raid

The Wenatchee-based task force became involved in the investigation that led to felony charges against Lin in August 2022 when the owner of a neighboring business reported a massage parlor on Mission Street appeared to be involved in prostitution.

She told investigators that Yan and his wife, Yan Yang, acted strangely even before the Mission Street location opened. They painted the walls hot pink, covered the windows and weren’t interested in replacing the “filthy” carpet.

The neighbor said Yan showed up to the business a week earlier with enough groceries to feed a family of four. An advertisement with suggestive images and offering sexual services appeared in online searches for the business, according to court documents.

The business owner and a customer reported hearing what sounded like sex coming from the massage parlor and reported it to the property manager. Shortly after that conversation, Yan appeared with construction equipment and apparently soundproofed the wall adjoining the other business.

McKay’s involvement

In the Tri-Cities, former Kennewick mayor Bill McKay first approached Police Chief Chris Guerrero the night before Yan’s Clearwater business was raided, telling him he was aware of a number of suspected illicit massage parlors.

McKay claimed he had been conducting his own investigation into them after being offered sexual services at a massage business about two years earlier.

Guerrero told McKay repeatedly to stop “investigating” the businesses, but he continued going to them and asking what services they offered, even after he agreed to be interviewed by detectives, according to Guerrero and former City Manager Marie Mosley.

McKay told detectives he suspected the women at the businesses were the victims of sex trafficking.

He was never charged with a crime, and his involvement became public after the Herald reported on documents obtained through the state Public Records Act.

McKay resigned rather than face a formal ethics investigation from his fellow city council members.

Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett later conducted an independent review of the situation. Earlier this year, she told the Herald that while McKay admitted to paying for sexual services twice, there was no corroborating evidence that could be used to build a case against him.

Robnett told the Herald that while the case probably should have been reviewed sooner, it likely would not have resulted in a charge.

“I say that because when I spoke to the task force commander ..., by the time they executed their search warrant, the place had been cleaned out. They had either been tipped off or knew,” Robnett told the Herald in February.

She said the parlor being cleared out meant that building a case was unlikely. Without a witness she believes a case could have been built had enough evidence been collected, but with no witnesses or evidence all they had to go on was McKay’s confession.

Timeline: Kennewick mayor’s sudden resignation and ensuing massage parlor scandal