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Woman sentenced in Austintown prostitution case
By Justin Wier
YOUNGSTOWN
A woman involved in prostitution at a former Austintown massage parlor received a year’s probation in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
Unsuk Cho, 64, of Vestal Road, pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution and money laundering, both felonies, in May.
Prosecutors dropped a charge of engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity in exchange for the plea.
Cho’s attorney David Betras on Wednesday said his client has cooperated with the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation and the FBI.
Judge Lou A. D’Apolito said Cho, who had only one previous conviction on a misdemeanor offense in 1980, has a low chance of recidivism.
Cho was one of three defendants indicted for crimes that occurred between June 2013 and November 2015 at a massage parlor at 5325 Seventy-six Drive.
Richard Thompson, 40, of Leavittsburg, pleaded guilty to promoting prostitution in May. He received a sentence of three years’ probation.
The plea and sentencing for the third defendant, Song Westphal, 65, of Austintown, was postponed due to a medical condition.
She was indicted on two counts each of promoting prostitution, money laundering and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.
The operation of a massage parlor on Seventy-six Drive served as a pretext for laundering proceeds from prostitution, the indictment said.
The enterprise was incorporated in 2013 by Grace Sciarra, 31, of Leavittsburg,
Judge Maureen A. Sweeney sentenced Sciarra last August to two years’ probation and 100 hours of community service on one count each of promoting prostitution and money laundering.
Cho and Westphal controlled the hiring, compensation, scheduling and in-house food, lodging and supplies for employees and prostitutes at the massage parlor, the indictment said.
The township has since attempted to declare the property a nuisance.