Jessica Masulli Reyes

The News Journal

Delaware prosecutors are suing the owner of four massage parlors who was caught in an undercover police investigation into prostitution in 2014.

The lawsuit filed Friday seeks $700,000 in civil penalties from Smyrna resident Da Zhong Wang, 52, for violating state racketeering laws. It also seeks to stop Wang from owning and operating massage parlors in Delaware.

Wang, a Chinese citizen living in the U.S. on a work permit, previously owned Relaxed Spa in Rehoboth, Massage Center in Middletown, Wang's House of Acupressure in Smyrna and Da Wang's Bodyworks in Dover, the lawsuit said.

In November 2013, an undercover Delaware State Police trooper visited the Middletown location. The masseuse offered the officer a sex act during the massage, the lawsuit said.

She was arrested and charged with prostitution, but the charge was dismissed in May 2014 after she entered an assistance program, the lawsuit said.

She and others appeared to be living at Wang's businesses. The women told police that she charged $60 an hour per massage – of which $40 was paid to Wang, the lawsuit said.

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Two more similar undercover operations in the Middletown and Rehoboth Beach locations led to the arrest of two other women in January and December 2014.

Also, in April and December 2014, the Dover Public Works Department unclogged a sewer pipe at the Dover location because of a large number of used condoms blocking the line, the lawsuit said.

Wang was arrested and charged in December 2014 with second-degree promoting prostitution and permitting prostitution. He was convicted in August 2015 of permitting prostitution and is currently on community supervision.

The lawsuit filed by the Delaware Department of Justice is seeking $100,000 for each of the seven violations of the Delaware Organized Crime and Racketeering Act.

As part of the lawsuit, the DOJ will continue to investigate whether Wang still owns or controls the four facilities or any others in Delaware in order to close down and seize the assets from any properties he controls.

Contact Jessica Masulli Reyes at (302) 324-2777, jmreyes@delawareonline.com or Twitter @JessicaMasulli.