Maple Grove Restaurant Owner Aided Prostitution Ring: Charges

MAPLE GROVE, MN — A Maple Grove restaurant owner has been charged with sex trafficking in an operation that brought Chinese women into Edina and Richfield for commercial sex, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman alleges.

Zhaxi Taxing, 41, of St. Louis Park, is the owner of Sumo Japanese Sushi Steak House, located off Arbor Lakes Parkway in Maple Grove.

Taxing was charged with engaging in the sex trafficking of an individual.

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“This is a highly organized, illegal operation that stretched from coast-to-coast in the United States,” Freeman said in a statement. “These women are victims who were preyed upon by the sex-trafficking operators and we are going to do everything in our power to disrupt the commercial sex trade in Hennepin County.”

On Nov. 7, Taxing spoke on behalf of Sumo Japanese Sushi Steak House in front of the the Maple Grove City Council requesting a liquor license, Press & News reported.

According to criminal complaints, Bloomington police were investigating prostitution in November 2016 and came across an ad for commercial sex of an Asian woman in backpage.com. The investigators had dealt with other Asian human trafficking organizations and this one seemed similar so they called the number.

The officer was directed to an apartment in Edina and was met by a woman in lingerie. After identifying himself as a police officer, he tried to interview the woman, but she spoke only Chinese.

A translator was arranged and the woman said she came from China to New York before being brought to the Twin Cities to work as a prostitute, a complaint states

Police said the rental information on the Edina apartment was complicated by false names and social security numbers but eventually officers determined that Taxing was one of the main suspects. He later was seen moving items from the Edina apartment to a Richfield apartment, according to a complaint.

Officers say they watched the Richfield apartment and saw numerous men going in and out and staying only a short period of time. They also saw another man, Sonam Tsering, 36, of Massachusetts, place a garbage bag in the dumpster and inside police found numerous condom wrappers and tissues with bodily fluids, the complaint states.

A tracker was placed on a suspect vehicle allegedly being used by Taxing. Using the device, police said Taxing made frequent trips to the suspect address in Richfield.

In January, investigators responded to another ad in backpage.com and were directed to the Richfield apartment, where the woman there admitted to engaging in prostitution, according to authorities.

During the investigation, police seized a cell phone from Taxing. On it, they found communications with a woman known to be involved in sex trafficking, police said.

Police say the communications told Taxing when to pick up women at the airport, how to take care of them, setting up the apartments and complaints about how they were making less money than their competitors, according to the complaint. Taxing’s bank records, however, show he deposited more than $52,000 in less than five months, according to authorities.

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