St. Louis Park Man Charged With Sex Trafficking
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A Minnesota man is charged with sex trafficking in connection to a coast-to-coast operation bringing Chinese women to the United States for sex.
The Hennepin County Attorney's Office announced Tuesday that Zhaxi Taxing, 41, of St. Louis Park, is charged with trafficking of a single individual in the Twin Cities. He made his first court appearance Monday.
According to a criminal complaint, investigators in the south metro were led to Taxing after tracing a Backpage.com ad to an apartment in Edina, where they found a Chinese woman who said, through an interpreter, that she was brought to Minnesota from New York to work as a prostitute.
Although the apartment was under false names and Social Security numbers, Taxing eventually emerged as a suspect. During the investigation, a phone was seized, showing communication between Taxing and a woman known to be involved in sex trafficking.
The conversation was about picking up women at the airport, details about how to house them and setting up apartments for prostitution. Also, there were complaints that the organization was making less money than competitors.
According to the complaint, Taxing's bank records show that he deposited more than $52,000 in less than five months.
Also charged in the operation was Sonam Tsering, of Plymouth, Mass. Investigators say he was part of the same operation and connected to an apartment in Richfield where other women admitted to authorities that they engaged in prostitution.