Undercover Goochland sting leads to arrest, detention at Hockett Road spa

An undercover visit to Jasmin Spa on Hockett Road ended with one arrest, one detention and a search warrant at the Manakin-Sabot business after deputies said an individual connected to the spa committed a lewd act during the operation.

The Goochland County Sheriff’s Office said detectives had already been investigating Jasmin Spa, at 1587 Hockett Rd., for some time before the morning operation on Tuesday, April 21. After the undercover visit, deputies executed a previously obtained search warrant, turning the case from a short-term sting into a broader look at the business’s activity and records.

The sheriff’s office arrested Jie Hong Chen, 48, of Flushing, New York, and charged her with keeping a bawdy place. Chen is being held without bond at Pamunkey Regional Jail. Deputies also detained Huiying Qiu, 62, of Lindenhurst, New York, after determining that she was wanted out of Henrico County on a felony commercial sex trafficking charge. Qiu was released to the Henrico County Police Division.

Virginia law makes keeping a bawdy place unlawful and classifies the offense as a Class 1 misdemeanor. The state’s commercial sex trafficking law makes recruiting, encouraging or otherwise causing someone to engage in prostitution for money or value a felony, with penalties rising to a Class 4 felony when force, intimidation or deception is involved.

For Manakin-Sabot, the case reaches beyond one storefront. Jasmin Spa sits along a corridor that mixes rural neighborhoods, commuter traffic and small commercial sites, and the sheriff’s office said detectives are still trying to identify additional people seen on the business’s surveillance system. That means the inquiry could still expand as investigators follow leads from the search and any related records.

Anyone with information has been asked to contact the Goochland County Sheriff’s Office, and anonymous tips can also be submitted through Crime Stoppers. The continuing investigation leaves open the question of whether more charges will follow, but the arrests already show how quickly repeated vice concerns at a single commercial address can become a countywide public-safety case.