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Woman accused of operating brothel disguised as a spa in Montoursville faces more charges

Liuping Li, arrested Sunday on a Montoursville police charge of running a house of prostitution on Broad Street in the borough, faces additional charges from the ongoing investigation.

Already jailed on $250,000 bail, Li was brought before District Judge Gary Whiteman on Thursday morning and arraigned on four additional counts of promoting prostitution or related offenses as well as two counts each of conspiracy and illegal use of a communication device.

Investigators allege Li operated a brothel under the guise of a massage business at 440 Broad St. that was called Jia Yuan Spa.

A new affidavit filed with the added charges stated that investigators seized the funds from the spa’s bank account that totaled $7,500. The money was seized as part of a search warrant that was executed at the business.

At her inital arraignment, Li carried an Allentown address, but her address provided in court documents on Thursday showed that she lived at the same place as the spa with other employees.

Li, 49, does reportedly have a passport from China, but she does not have it on her.

As with Sunday’s arraignment, a Chinese language interpreter was used during the second proceedings, which ended with Whiteman denying her bail. She was returned to the Lycoming County Prison.

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