HUBBARD — A police report from a meeting weeks before a second search warrant was served on a Mahoning Valley massage spa revealed more information about the tenant of a building owned by Trumbull County Commissioner Rick Hernandez.

According to a supplemental Feb. 6 investigative report obtained Wednesday, Hernandez brought Furong Li, who was arrested in the second raid, to the police station to speak to Hubbard police Chief Robert Thompson and detective Michael Banic — the reporting officer.

The report states that Li, using a phone app to communicate because of the language barrier, told officers that the spa was her only store and she needed the income, adding that she wanted to improve upon shortcomings and didn’t want anything illegal to happen.

Li said the prostitution ads for the address were legacy ads from the old owners, but Banic noted in the report that this wasn’t true, as new ads had been posted while Li owned the business.

According to Li, the girls at the spa said nothing illegal was going on at the spa, but Hernandez told her she couldn’t believe them because they might want her to think that, adding that it was unusual that no one was at the building during the August 2024 raid, according to the report.

The report states Hernandez told Thompson and Banic that he was committed to shutting the business down if Li left and someone else was running it, adding that he only trusted her.

Hernandez said he knew Li from renting to her, and Banic said it was a lot to gain from just renting and communicating through a phone app, according to the report.

“I talk to her a lot; I usually go by demeanor, you know what I mean? By their demeanor,” said Hernandez, in body cam footage obtained. “The way this one talks and the messages she sends.”

Hernandez admitted there were some difficulties in understanding through the language barrier, — which Banic pointed out again — but he said he believed she was telling the truth.

Banic said he pointed out activities in the building to Hernandez, who went to Facebook afterward to defend the business and say it would reopen.

The report states Hernandez told Banic he had to say those things because former commissioner Niki Frenchko was saying things about him. He defeated Frenchko in the May 2024 primary election.

“That’s my assessment of it, my opinion. That isn’t me saying I’m involved here and I know these ladies, no, that isn’t that,” Hernandez said in the footage. “When I’m running for county commissioner and I got all these people on my back, telling me that I’m a human trafficker, a sex trafficker, I’m going to defend myself,” Hernandez said later. “Do I own the building? Yes. Do I like collecting rent because I don’t want an empty building? Absolutely. If something is going on and something happens, then she’s shut down.”

Banic made it clear to him that solicitation was going on with the previous case, and things were more likely to go bad than good.

Banic added that places like the spa would reopen and continue their activities because of the money being so good.

Hernandez said he called the city and the health department to discuss rules and regulations concerning the business, and he was told there were none. He asked Li about the men parking across the street, but she said she didn’t know, the report states.

The report states Hernandez theorized men were parking there with the expectation of something happening, starting to say Li was there, but changed his sentence to say he was going to bite the bullet if he was wrong about her.

Mark Finamore of Turner, May and Shepherd, a lawyer representing Hernandez, said Friday that he’s had talks with him about the police report and body cam footage after a news station contacted Hernandez seeking comment.

“Basically, what I told him to say is that, ‘Hey, until she’s convicted, or until the case is concluded one way or another … there’s no basis for you to be able to make a comment that would mean anything,” Finamore said.