Bethesda Woman Charged In Human Trafficking Case In Frederick County

BETHESDA, MD — A Bethesda woman was arrested in Frederick County, Maryland, on two counts of sex trafficking and 14 additional counts related to trafficking and prostitution, according to the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office.

The woman, Huiping Hester, 52, was arrested on Oct. 28 and taken to the Frederick County Adult Detention Center, the sheriff’s office said. Her arrest was part of an investigation by the Frederick County Human Trafficking Response Team into massage parlors in the county.

The investigation stemmed from citizen complaints of suspicious activity occurring at Calla Spa on Worthington Blvd in Urbana and at YiYi Spa on Thomas Johnson Drive in Frederick, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Through their investigation and extensive surveillance, investigators developed enough probable cause to obtain the search warrants,” the sheriff’s office said Wednesday.

On Oct. 28, the Human Trafficking Response Team, which includes the sheriff’s office Narcotics Investigations Section and Frederick police’s Tactical and Criminal Investigations Section, executed search warrants on both spas, The Frederick News-Post reported Thursday.

A sheriff’s office spokesman told the newspaper that Hester was the “ringleader” of a sex trafficking and prostitution operation in Frederick County.

“This long-term investigation, which dismantled this organized trafficking network, demonstrates our focus on the big-picture problem of human trafficking locally,” Frederick County Sheriff Chuck Jenkins said in a statement.

“The investigative goal is three-pronged, to include shutting down the operation, prosecuting those responsible, and getting the victims out of these enslaved conditions,” Jenkins said.

Anyone with information about human trafficking in their communities can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 888-373-7888.