The Jackson County Sheriff’s department has held Chan Y Martin, 41, and Young Ha Kim Carlton, 39, on a misdemeanor charge of prostitution.
Given the age and surnames of the women, it is unlikely they are the victims of human trafficking. They are likely citizens or permanent residents who were previously married to American servicemen in Korea and followed them home to America. Sometimes these servicemen were unwitting victims in a ploy for citizenship, sometimes the women were victims of abusive relationships, and other cases have found where servicemen were compensated to enter into sham marriages in order to facilitate a green card.
The above scenarios are quite frequent in the Korean massage parlor world. Law enforcement in other jurisdictions have also found that women frequently rotate between establishments and states in order to allude arrest and also so the women can be a “fresh face.”
Often the women working in the spas will also live in the location. If they don’t have a car, there are “taxi” services that women pay to ferry them from state to state in search of a new location.
Owners of establishments may be in name only. Just as the working girls rotate, so does ownership. Indeed, JJ Spa was previously known as 777 Spa. It was shutdown for a period and chatter on the review boards is that local law enforcement was taking a closer look at such establishments.
A one year investigation has thus far only yielded two misdemeanor arrests. Tony Lawrence says they are reviewing records. With people’s penchant for paying with plastic, there is likely a long paper trail of johns, although those cases would be nearly impossible to prosecute.
What Lawrence is likely seeking is the ownership of the establishment. Lawrence should have already had records from the county tax assessor and collector in the form of personal property renditions and payments. The business’ privilege license would also have yielded a name. WLOX’s cameras caught what appeared to be Morris Strickland reviewing a lease with an investigator. Whose name is on the lease, on the credit card merchant accounts, and any associated checking accounts?
The cash flows associated with these operations are substantial and often involve laundering the money offshore to escape confiscation. One case in Dallas found a woman shipping thousands in cash stuffed into boxes of cookies to relatives in Korea.
Just think about what has happened to those good men that serve or have served on the SRHS BOT. One trustee lived in Alabama but was serving contrary to state law and filing for bogus homestead exemptions.One trustee was hanging out at Ashley Madison’s place while CPAing around town.One trustee was living in Harrison County but voting in Jackson County.Of course Biloxi resident Morris Strickland is still trying his best to get attention any way he can.Remember,he had a long career getting that addictive Coke to market.Since he moved to the Coast he has been involved in numerous questionable ventures like the Purple Pelican Bar that was a known drug dealing den. So when local police brought the heat, he changed the name to Boots and Spurs which is now know for holding political fundraisers and serving alcohol to minors. His real estate holdings included involvement in the very questionable Hilton Garden Inn and his partners are the Roy Williams gang. Another property he is involved in which includes the headquarters of his so called holding company, Eagle Enterprises,has quality tenants like that a tattoo shop, a Korean house of ill massages and a dentist for hair removal. We all saw what happened to the oriental whorehouse yesterday. Local,state and federal agents came a calling and now I guess Strickland’s girls are making new friends at the county jail.What we don’t know is how many of those Korean dumplings has Morris Strickland sampled? Did he supply female entertainment to the secret SRHS BOT meetings? Did he allow his girls to work out of the Hilton Garden Inn also? Is he more than just a landlord? The man wears enough jewelry to fit the pimpin’ roll. On thing for sure is the fact that Morris Strickland is a complicated man who seems to be getting the type of attention even his seedy business partners will be concerned about.At his age drinking and whoring around could be bad for his health.He probably should be contacting the Ms.SOS office soon to get a corporate name change for his holding(human holding?) from Eagle to Vulture Enterprises.This would be soooo appropriate for this man and his surroundings.
As an ex-military man who was once stationed in Korea I can speak volumes about the quality of Korean women.During World War 2 the Japanese preferred the Koreans as their “comfort women” or “ianfu”. As American service men we referred to them as wianbu. Now, all of these years later, someone has decided to bring some Korean talent to Jackson County. After watching the local news and reading the many published articles I would say that law enforcement is having fun with this.They have freed the ianfu women from slavery much like the US military once rescued them from the Japanese. They also caught some men in the act of taking advantage of these young ladies at the raided location.Wonder if they will be prosecuted? And how about that client list that was seized? Who will be exposed or will it just be swept under the rug?At a minimum the names should be published in the local papers as a community service so the wives can get their share of the community property. Was the JJ Spa landlord paid a high rent plus a tolerance fee? That is how it usually works.Or did he finance the operation? As a member on the board of directors of the Jackson County Economic Development Foundation did Morris Strickland look at this as a foreign investment into the area? Surely he knew what was taking place inside that rental space, which is located in plain view directly across the parking lot from his office.He also must have been made aware of the carnal activities involving the Korean slave girls based on the complaints from the other tenants. When you have a tattoo parlor complaining about the quality of traffic at the business next door you know something just ain’t kosher. Of course the right amount of rent money each month will blind some to the illegal activities of others.Then there is the possibility of tenants with benefits.A full body massage given by some young oriental woman could pleasure any “community leader” or many of his friends for that matter.I know when I was in Korea the women there did a great job for all of the military men south of the DMZ. As this investigation goes forward watch for some of these unindicted co-conspirators like foreign investing landlord Morris Strickland go radio silent. He for one can’t take many more lumps before he decides to move not just out of Jackson County this time but out of the entire state of Mississippi and we all may be better off if he does.