Detectives served search warrants on the spa following a year-long investigation that included surveillance and an undercover operation. Butler County Sheriff’s officials said the business had been open for several months and reports of possible illegal sexual acts being performed in the parlor began almost immediately.
Wallis, the spa’s manager, and Guo were scheduled for a three-day trial starting Sept. 16, but that court date was cancelled by Judge Charles Pater this week because of Somers’ motion and a few others that have been filed by defense attorneys in the case. Pater instead scheduled a hearing for Sept. 16 to consider all of the motions, including one to sever the women’s cases.
Somers plans to argue that Ohio’s prostitution laws are unconstitutional, according to court records.
“Ohio prostitution statue compromises the protected right to sexual privacy by denying consenting adults the right to make decisions about sexuality in the commercial market place,” Somers wrote in his motion. “Such an instruction is not justified or mitigated by societal moral concerns. When a law violates the constitutional rights of people, it must be overturned. As such, making the sale of sex illegal violates the right of sexual privacy derived from the due process clause and the defendant herein seeks nothing more that to invoke the principals of liberty that already exists.”
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said the cases are well founded in law, which is totally constitutional, and “we will proceed with the case after the hearing as the court directs.”
A third woman, Jiuying Matagolai, of Del City, Okla., was also charged with promoting prostitution and investigators believed her to be the spa’s owner. However, charges against Matagolai were dismissed in July at the request of the prosecution, which cited it was “in the best interest of justice,” according to court documents.
Louis Sirkin, a well-known First Amendment rights attorney from Cincinnati, filed a notice of alibi in Matagolai’s defense stating that in the time period the crime occurred, she was in China and included passport documentation, according to court records.
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