Ky. man charged with human trafficking at W.Va. ‘spa’

CABELL COUNTY, W.Va. (WTVQ) — A Kentucky man is facing human trafficking charges after an investigation into an unregistered business in West Virginia.

James Cissell, of Midway, Kentucky, is charged with human trafficking of an individual along with aiding and abetting human trafficking, according to ABC affiliate WCHS.

Chief Deputy Doug Adams, with the Cabell County Sheriff’s Office, said it started with neighbor complaints.

Deputies said Cissell was seen leaving the Oasis Spa on Aug. 10 with two females appearing to be of Asian descent, according to a criminal complaint filed in court.

“The defendant has been observed multiple times at this location dropping off and picking up different girls that appear to be of Asian descent,” Deputy M. Hatfield wrote in the complaint.

Hatfield noted that he had also interviewed four separate males who reported they had been to the Oasis Spa and received sexual acts in return for payment.

A female victim was present when deputies executed a search warrant on the business, the complaint said. Court documents indicated she told investigators that she was in the United States illegally and was smuggled in through Mexico.

Hatfield also said he saw what appeared to be a ledger with Cissell’s name and $4,000 written under the name, which indicated to investigators that some sort of money had been transferred to Cissell.

The West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office doesn’t have any record of the Oasis Spa on file as a registered business, Hatfield added in the complaint.

The female also advised investigators that he was not being forced to work at the business, however, she told them she had to work to “repay her debt for entering the United States and that debt was owed to her family in China,” the complaint said.

Investigators also said they found photocopied identification during the execution of the warrant. The female said she was given documentation to assist in her entry into the U.S. “The documentation included a photo copy of what appears to be a passport of a male subject’s photo and a paper which she described as what she was to say to authorities,” the complaint said.