Indictments returned in prostitution case

Wednesday, Aug. 8, 2001 | 10:39 a.m.

Two Los Angeles residents have been indicted by a federal grand jury in Las Vegas on charges they helped run a prostitution ring using Asian women to work off debts the women incurred while illegally entering the United States.

Siong Guat Gan and Douglas Vinh Chau were charged in the indictment filed Tuesday with three counts, including conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to transport prostitutes and money laundering.

The indictment alleges that the acts occurred between March 1988 and September 2000. In Sept. 2000, eight others were indicted in connection with the operation that the U.S. attorney's office said had brothels in Las Vegas and nationwide.

The indictment says the defendants conspired "for the purpose of making money through crimes involving the inducing of aliens to illegally enter the United States for prostitution, the trafficking of illegal aliens ... for prostitution, the operation of brothels and money laundering."

The indictment alleges that the Asian alien women "would frequently owe a fee to the individuals arranging for their illegal entry into the United States. In such cases, the conspirators expected the ... women to pay their debt by performing acts of prostitution."

The conspirators "would use proceeds from the brothel operation to pay themselves," the indictment alleges.