Toms River couple who ran spa allegedly offered sexual favors for money
A Toms River married couple, who owns Spa 1800 on Lakewood Road, is charged with two counts of money laundering and promoting prostitution after they began offering sexual favors to clients in exchange for money.
Ocean County Prosecutor Bradley Billhimer announced the charges against Wayne Lefkowitz, 56, of Toms River, and Guihua Cui, 51, also of Toms River in a statement on Wednesday following a year-long investigation run by the OCPO Economic Crime Squad and OCPO SVU.
Lefkowitz and Cui had the front of running their spa as a legitimate business but Prosecutor Billhimer said that "individuals patronizing the spa were offered sexual favors in exchange for money."
In addition to the lewd favors, Lefkowitz and Cui also allegedly deposited money from the spa into a number of different bank accounts to try and "avoid transaction reporting requirements under New Jersey state law."
Their unlawful and illicit activity came to a head on April 28 when Detectives from the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Economic Crime Squad, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Internal Affairs Unit, Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office High Tech Crime Squad, Toms River Police Detectives, Toms River Police Patrol Officers and New Jersey State Police, executed court-authorized search warrants at Spa 1800 and then at Lefkowitz’s and Cui’s residence on McCormick Drive in Toms River.
Detectives followed that up by executing court-authorized seizure orders on bank accounts held by Lefkowitz and Cui.
Both have been charged on summonses pending a future court date.
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