ROCKLAND – Eleven Maine men have been issued summonses for allegedly engaging a person for prostitution following an investigation into human trafficking at a massage parlor in Rockland.

Rockland Police released the names of names of the defendants on January 27. They are Mark Strong, 69, of Thomaston; Richard Generazio, 64, of Owls Head; Christopher Mitchell, 41, of Lincolnville; Christopher Felicetti, 62, of Washington; Bruce Liljegren, 78, of Thomaston; Randy Bouchard, 62, of South Thomaston; Michael Graves, 65, of Rockport; William Heiden, 39, of Rockland; Joseph Cady, 50, of Palermo; Neal Shepard, 71, of Cushing; and Stanley Carlton, 65, of Owls Head.

Police said additional charges are expected as part of the ongoing investigation.

The local defendants in the Asian Massage case are scheduled to make their initial appearances in Knox County Court at a date to be scheduled in March.

Rockland Police said in a news release that in late July 2024 they received information from law enforcement in Lincoln County regarding their investigation into sexual acts that were being done in exchange for money at a local massage parlor.

Rockland Police learned that the establishment in question, Asian Massage, had since moved from Waldoboro to Rockland.

A Lincoln County detective said the Waldoboro business was listed on a sex guide website. The site gave the approximate age and breast size of the Asian women who give the massages, according to the court affidavit.

The Asian Massage in Rockland has been leasing the space at 193 Park Street since May 2024.

Rockland Police began surveillance of the business in September and they uncovered sexual acts were being done there in exchange for money.

The affidavit noted that the surveillance showed two Asian women were at the business and they rarely left the establishment.

Photographs of the women were taken during the surveillance, and one is suspected of being a Chinese national, according to the court affidavit.

Police obtained a search warrant from Knox County Court on Dec. 10, 2024 to search an outside trash can used by the business.

Police searched it in the evenings of Dec. 11 and Dec. 12, 2024 recovering tissues with bodily fluids on them, as well as written notes, determined to be Chinese characters, from multiple trash bags.

One of the suspects reported to police about only receiving a massage and nothing more, but found it, “weird that they had him completely uncovered and he was nude.”

Another man told police that he had gone to the massage parlor approximately 10 times and eight of the times there was sexual contact by the masseuse, according to the affidavit.

On Dec. 19, Rockland Police, with assistance from agents from Homeland Security, executed a search warrant on the spaced leased by Asian Massage in Rockland. During the search, multiple individuals were interviewed, and physical and electronic evidence seized, some of which is still being processed by Homeland Security.

Since the search warrant, the establishment is no longer active in Rockland, however there are still several suspected active locations around the state.

Rockland Detectives have continued their investigation, working with federal, local, and state law enforcement partners, as well as the Knox County District Attorney’s Office. This continued investigation has included numerous interviews and several search warrants for DNA evidence.

District Attorney Natasha Irving said in an interview aired Jan. 28 on WMTV 8 ABC news that a female who was working and living at Asian Massage was a victim of sex trafficking.

"The victim in this case didn't know where she was. She didn't know how long she had been here," the district attorney said, in the Channel 8 interview. "She was living at the establishment, and none of her documents were recovered at the establishment, so those are the signs that say to us that this is a survivor of human trafficking."

Irving said during the interview that the wider scope of this human trafficking ring is what concerns her most. The district attorney said women are being scammed into believing there are legitimate jobs waiting for them in the United States, according to the WMTV 8 interview.

"They are being scammed. They are victims of crime. They are victims of fraud," Irving had said. "Bringing them into this country under false pretenses to work in the sex industry," Irving also said in the interview.

Irving said prosecutors are working with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to try and locate the man they suspect as being the ringleader of the human trafficking operation, according to WMTV 8.

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbayplot.com