Former Rochester spa owner charged with leveraging company to engage in prostitution around WNY

Rochester, New York – Federal charges are pending against a woman who managed a nearby wellness center. It is alleged that the woman utilized the spa to run a prostitute business throughout Western New York.

Linian Song, the owner of S Wellness Spa in Rochester and New Elegant Shiatsu in Lockport, is accused in a complaint filed on Monday in a Buffalo federal court of utilizing the spas for commercial sex acts and advertising the services online.

The complaint claims that Song drove workers between the two locations to carry out those services. She continued to run the Lockport spa and oversee activities between the two establishments even though she was no longer identified as the proprietor of the Rochester spa.

A few of Song’s clients were reportedly halted by authorities after they claimed to have paid cash for massages and had been offered sexual services by spa staff.

Song is also accused by investigators of promoting the services through Backpage-style websites.

WKBW in Buffalo reports that Song was charged with intentionally using a facility in interstate commerce with the intent to manage a prostitution business after being taken into custody during an FBI raid at the Lockport spa.

Some neighbors in the South Wedge expressed disbelief at seeing federal agents at the establishment, while others claimed they thought more was going on behind the spa’s closed doors.

“The reputation of the South Wedge 40 years ago was that it had a drug problem, things like that,” said Jim Hollander of Rochester. “But this is so vibrant right now.”

According to Hollander, there has been a general rise in the neighborhood for some time.

“There is crime anywhere in the city if you go looking for it,” he said. “The city is still strong. Sure, we have neighborhoods that struggle, but we have a lot of people that are working to improve things.”