Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN — Several massage parlors suspected of operating as illegal fronts for money laundering and human trafficking were raided Monday morning in Trumbull and Mahoning counties.

The investigation spans six states, authorities said.

Multiple search warrants were executed simultaneously by the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force and several law enforcement partners during the one-day operation nicknamed “Operation Saving Daylight.” The task force is led by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office and organized under the Ohio Attorney General’s Organized Crime Investigation Commission.

Investigators seized hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash and financial assets, business records and other evidence. Searches occurred at three business locations: Tiger Spa, 420 W. Market St., Warren; Sunny Spa, 2819 W. Market St., Warren; and 76 Spa and Tanning, 5325 Seventy-Six Drive, Austintown.

Warrants also were executed in the region at private residences in Leavittsburg, Warren, Austintown, Youngstown and Poland. Additionally, search warrants and court orders were executed outside Ohio as the investigation spans six states.

The raids were announced by the offices of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost, Mahoning County Sheriff Jerry Greene, Chief Eric Merkel of Warren Police Department and Chief Robert Gavalier of Austintown Police Department.

In addition to the Warren and Austintown police forces and Mahoning sheriff deputies, others involved in the investigation included the Cortland Police Department, East Palestine Police Department, Salem Police Department, Youngstown Police Department, Columbiana County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Mahoning County Prosecutor’s Office, Trumbull County Prosecutor’s Office, Attorney General’s Special Prosecution Section, and the Northeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force.

Assisting in Monday’s raids were members of the FBI, Mahoning Valley Law Enforcement TaskForce, Trumbull County Sheriff’s Office and its TAG Drug Task Force, the Ohio State Highway Patrol,the Ohio State Medical Board, Howland Police Department, Harriet Tubman Movement and Asian Services in Action, according to a news release.

The task force’s investigation is ongoing, and no additional details are available. Once the investigation is complete, the case will be referred to the appropriate county prosecutors.

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