WARREN — Among the defendants who will be sentenced at 1:30 p.m. March 17 for their role in operating two Warren massage parlors is Sunny Oh, 68, of Palisades Park, N.J., who pleaded guilty Wednesday to money laundering, attempted obstruction of justice and five counts of possessing criminal tools .

Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Rice accepted her guilty pleas a day after accepting guilty pleas by seven other co-defendants Tuesday.

Ohio Assistant Attorney General Dan Kasaris told Rice on Wednesday that Oh “owned” the Sunny Spa, 2819 Market St., “where prostitution, money laundering and other similar offenses occurred.” Elsewhere in court documents Oh is described as “an owner” of the Sunny Spa. Multiple other women are also described in the document as “an owner” of the business.

Kasaris said he thinks there is about $16,000 in cash that was seized at the Sunny Spa the day it was raided with a search warrant May 1, 2025. The money will be forfeited to the state, Kasaris said. The Ohio Attorney General’s Office issued a news release Wednesday saying that at least $676,500 of funds seized during the investigation will be forfeited to the state as part of plea agreements made with about 10 co-defendants.

The defendants “operated a human trafficking ring that forced women into prostitution” at the two businesses — the Sunny Spa and the Tiger Spa, 420 W. Market St. — the release states. The Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force, which is led by the Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, carried out the investigation with other law enforcement agencies.

According to Oh’s Aug. 6, 2025, superseding indictment, she was among seven people who committed crimes at that business from early 2018 to May 2, 2025. Oh could get about nine years in prison when she is sentenced later.

Oh was among co-defendants who were indicted on more serious charges that could have resulted in more prison time if convicted, including a first-degree felony charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity. None of the eight people who have entered guilty pleas so far have pleaded guilty to that charge, frequently referred to as RICO.

HISTORY OF SUNNY SPA

The indictment states that Hyun Ju Nam of Vestal Road in Youngstown was the registered business agent for the spa at 2819 W. Market St. when its name changed to Sunny Spa on May 3, 2015. Its principal office location was changed to 2819 W. Market St. on April 18, 2019. And the company Silver Mool LLC was created to run the business in June of 2019, the indictment states.

At the time of the investigation of the Sunny Spa, individuals paid $210 when they entered the business, with the manager getting $70 and the person providing the “sexual favors” receiving $140. About 25 customers per day were visiting the business for a total of about $5,200 being collected per day.

Charles McGill of Warren, who entered guilty pleas Tuesday, managed the finances of the business. He is also described in documents as “a mule for the enterprise,” transporting women who worked at the Sunny Spa.

His wife, Young Hee Yoon, the on-site manager of the Sunny Spa, was on the bank account where the funds were deposited, the indictment states.

From May 2022 to November 2022, $24,728 was added to the account. All deposits were cash. McGill and Yoon withdrew funds from the account for expenses.

The indictment states that the Sunny Spa “was compliant with City of Warren’s rules pertaining to licensing, holding itself out as a legitimate spa when it was in fact an illicit sexual establishment created and / or operated to provide sexual favors for profit,” the indictment states.

On Feb. 3, 2023, surveillance observed McGill pulling his car behind the Sunny Spa, leaving about 30 minutes later and going to his home on East Avenue in Warren, the document states. Surveillance also observed him Feb. 16, 2023, pulling into the Sunny Spa, leaving a short time later and driving to Walgreens in Warren. He returned later to Sunny Spa. The next day, he went to the Sunny Spa and then Sam’s Club in Warren to purchase a large amount of items, including groceries, then returning to the Sunny Spa.

In October 2022, an undercover agent went to the Sunny Spa, paid money and a female attempted to engage in sex acts with him. No sex occurred, but he paid her the full amount. The document described other similar instances in February 2023 and March and April 2025.

Multiple co-defendants were listed in the indictment as being an owner of the Sunny Spa. One of those was also identified as having been affiliated with the Tiger Spa.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost announced indictments against eight women May 1, 2025 in connection to human trafficking and prostitution in Warren. Oh was not among the eight. The Tiger Spa was no longer in business at the time of the announcement.

2012 MASSAGE PARLOR RAIDS

The current human trafficking crackdown is similar to an operation carried out by law enforcement in 2012 in Waren. It involved raids on eight of the 10 massage parlors that operated in the city at the time, including the “Sun Spa,” which operated out of the same building as what was later known as the Sunny Spa, 2819 W. Market St.

Warren Mayor Doug Franklin and then-Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine spoke about the raids May 30, 2012, while standing outside of the Sun Spa. The Tiger Spa was not among the eight businesses named in that investigation.

The raid was carried out by 60 state investigators and Warren police officers. It was part of a yearlong investigation that included interviews with 38 customers, DeWine said at the time.

An affidavit filed in support of search warrants executed that day stated that some of the women providing sex were driven by a “jockey” from New York City to Warren after arriving in New York from Korea.

The customers interviewed were from a wide area, including some as close as Warren, Leavittsburg, North Bloomfield, Canfield and Campbell. Many others were from the Cleveland area — Willoughby, Parma, Amherst, Westlake and Shaker Heights. One man was interviewed in his Pepper Pike law office, the affidavit said. Others were from Cuyahoga Falls, Shelby, Louisville and Austinburg.

Warren City Council had passed legislation the previous January forcing the city’s 10 recreational massage parlors to close between midnight and 6 a.m. and imposing larger licensing fees. That followed several anti-trafficking and anti-prostitution demonstrations conducted by Warren citizens and the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative in 2011.

Dewine said May 30, 2013, that “Unfortunately, this great city (Warren) for some reason has become the epicenter for prostitution in this part of the state.”

The massage parlors that were raided May 30, 2012 were:

• Fantasy Spa, 1523 Youngstown Road SE

• Fuji Spa, 1446 Parkman Road NW

• Gemini Health Spa, 2414 Youngstown Road SE

• Hong Kong Spa, 2019 W. Market St. SW

• Sun Spa, 2819 W. Market St. NW

• Moon Night Spa, 3875 Youngstown Road SE

• Ocean Spa, 2000 North Road SE

• Tokyo Health Spa, 2970 Parkman Road NW

All eight surrendered their operating licenses in late June 2012 in an agreement with the Warren Law Department after the city filed nuisance complaints in Trumbull County Common Pleas Court against the businesses. The agreement required the businesses to remove their identifying signs and not reapply for a license for at least one year.