The Sanford Police Department executed a search warrant at a questionable Chinese-run spa on Thursday as part of an investigation into an alleged sex trafficking operation.
[RELATED: Numerous Chinese Massage Parlors in Maine, Some Run By Illegal Aliens, Busted for Sex Trafficking…]
At approximately 4:00 p.m., Sanford officers executed a search warrant at 1328 Main Street, Unit 5, in Sanford as part of an investigation into an alleged sex trafficking operation.
The Sanford Police Department’s Detective Division applied for the warrant, which was approved by the Biddeford Court.
Officers reportedly encountered no problems while completing a search of the address.
Police provided scant details on the raid but specified that “the victims of trafficking were offered services,” making it clear that victims were allegedly present at the time of the raid.
The York County Sheriff’s Office and Homeland Security Investigations assisted in the operation.
The Sanford Police Department specified that they will not release the names of the victims in order to protect them.
Though the police did not include the name of the business raided, The Maine Wire has determined, based on records from OpenCorporates, that the business operating out of 1328 Main Street, Unit 5, at the time of the raid was Essential 8 Spa Incorporated, operated by Yi Yu Huang.
A Google Maps image from September 2025, after Essential 8 was incorporated, shows a building with the word “Spa” on the outside, no specific sign declaring the name of the business, and dark curtains preventing anyone from seeing inside.
The business has not been in operation long, having only filed its Articles of Incorporation in June 2025.
Business records show that the spa is Huang’s only business in the state; however, he is listed as the registered agent for numerous other spas, some with similar names, across the country.
Those businesses include the Melody 9W Spa in New York, Day Spa 8 in New York, 8KK Spa in Michigan, and 88 Xin Xin Spa in Pennsylvania.
Huang’s is not the only spa implicated in sex trafficking in the state. In recent years, Chinese spa owners have been arrested in Rockland, Portland, Ellsworth, and Lewiston on charges related to sex trafficking.
In 2021, another Sanford spa owner, Mingqiu Du Aleksa, 45, was arrested after a months-long investigation into sex trafficking.
