Woman arrested at Orem hotel after anonymous tip about prostitution

OREM, Utah (ABC4) — A 67-year-old woman was arrested at a hotel after an anonymous tip reported she was involved in prostitution activity. Hsu was arrested for performing massages without a license.

Lifang Hsu, 67, was arrested and booked into the Utah County Jail. She is being held on a charge of not having a required license for a massage practice.

According to a post from the Orem Police Department on Facebook, two officers responded to an anonymous tip this morning regarding prostitution activity at a local hotel room. When they arrived at the hotel, the front desk confirmed the room was occupied.

The hotel room was on the ground floor and had an exterior window that could be seen from the parking lot. Police officers looked at the window before knocking on the door, and observed a woman “sitting in a chair next to the window wearing minimal provocative clothing.”

Police knocked on the hotel room’s door, and the woman — later identified as Hsu — answered wearing clothing that offered more coverage. The officers used a Chinese-speaking linguist to assist with communication in an interview with Hsu.

Hsu provided police with a California ID and stated that she was leaving town and flying back to California through Las Vegas tomorrow, and had only been at the hotel since Monday. The officer asked to see her plane tickets, but she said that a friend purchased them and she could not show them.

During the interview, the officer asked for Hsu’s phone number so they could make contact with her later. After giving him her number, she allegedly began deleting messages in front of the police officer. He could not read the language, but saw her deleting what looked like advertisements for a massage business.

The officer asked Hsu why she was deleting messages, and she responded that she had been giving massages to friends and didn’t want them to be affected. Through the linguist, Hsu clarified that she was deleting advertisements and messages about transactions related to massages.

At this point, police ended the conversation with Hsu and said they would return later if they had more questions. Hsu thanked the officer and allegedly stated she would be leaving the hotel room today instead of tomorrow.

The Utah State Department of Professional Licenses confirmed to police that Hsu did not have a Utah license to perform massages. According to documents, shortly after the officer confirmed this, Hsu exited her room with all of her items and checked out of the hotel.

Hsu was detained by the Orem Police for not obtaining a license to perform massages in the State of Utah. When they seized Hsu’s items as part of the arrest, they discovered that she had $5,000, “dozens of new packaged condoms,” and other items associated with “the sex trade.”

No criminal charges have been filed against Hsu yet, but police believe that she is a flight risk if released from the Utah County Jail.

“The detectives are grateful for the support from our community in keeping Orem safe and wanted to assure you that when you provide the tip, we’ll finish the job,” the Orem Police Department said on Facebook.