Former Hilton Head massage parlor owner charged with running a brothel in Charleston
A former Hilton Head Island massage parlor owner faces charges of running a brothel in Charleston after police watched the business for more than a year.
Lina Tan Driggers, 58, of Beaufort County faces one count of operating a brothel and one count of committing the offense within 100 yards of a childcare facility, according to a S.C. Law Enforcement Division news release on Wednesday.
An investigation by SLED and the Charleston Police Department into Driggers’ “Oriental Massage Therapy” on Ashley River Road began after a Feb. 8, 2020, anonymous tip from a family member of a masseuse.
The family member said the masseuse was recruited to work at Oriental Massage Therapy through a Chinese newspaper. When the masseuse started the position, however, “their passport was taken, and they were forced to complete sexual acts with clients,” according to an affidavit.
Multiple surveillance “operations” by Charleston police detectives between March 16, 2020 and June 28, 2021 showed that the clientele appeared to be all adult males who frequently exceeded allotted times. A customer who was stopped leaving the business said it’s where one goes to solicit prostitutes.
SLED also sent an undercover agent to request sexual acts, which a masseuse agreed to perform. The agent said he “changed his mind” from the verbal agreement and left.
After a search warrant was executed, an employee told SLED agents she was instructed to perform sexual acts for customers.
Driggers was charged on Wednesday afternoon by SLED and booked into Charleston County’s detention center, the release said.
A company that owned property on Hilton Head sued Driggers on Jan. 9, 2020 over unpaid costs regarding a massage parlor Driggers operated on Hilton Head.
Driggers ran “Oriental Massage” from November 2018 to November 2019 on Central Avenue near the island’s north end off U.S. 278.
The company said Driggers’ business was “suspected of engaging in unsavory activities creating a nuisance to the entire complex, and tenants were strongly suspected of engaging in activities that were in violation of local and state laws,” according to court documents.
She left voluntarily on Nov. 1, 2019, after disputes with the landlord. However, in a counterclaim, Driggers alleged that the landlord, Ned E. Gilleland, Sr., “noisily threatened to have his ‘lawyer daughter’ sue the Defendants for eviction and a lot of damages if they did not immediately vacate.”
South Carolina massage parlors have been in the spotlight in recent years, specifically in Horry County, for harboring victims of sex trafficking. A report from the Myrtle Beach Sun News in April 2021 revealed that Horry County law enforcement and prosecutors shut down 20 massage parlors with the help of a private investigator who solicited prostitution using taxpayer dollars.
According to a 2020 report from the S.C. Attorney General’s Office, illicit massage parlors were the chief venue for sex trafficking in the state.
