Women Suspected of Operating Brothel At Palm Desert Spa Free From Jail

PALM DESERT (CNS) – Two women suspected of operating a brothel at a spa business in Palm Desert were free from jail Thursday.

Xiuxia Bai, 54, of El Monte and Lijuan Ruan, 41, of Los Angeles were arrested Wednesday afternoon on suspicion operating a brothel, according to Sgt. Travis Mountz of the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.

Mountz said that the Palm Desert Business District Team, Special Enforcement Team and the Riverside County Anti-Human Trafficking Task Force served a search warrant Wednesday as part of a human trafficking investigation.

During the search of a spa business in the 74000 block of Alessandro Drive in Palm Desert, Ruan and Bai were arrested, according to Mountz.

They were subsequently booked into the John J. Benoit Center in Indio, but released the same day on $2,500 bail bonds, according to inmate records. They’re expected to make their first court appearance Aug. 29.

Anyone with information on the case was asked to call Deputy Avila with the Palm Desert sheriff’s station at 760-836-1600.

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