Daycare shaken after massage parlor suspect flees, bursts through wall - Midland Reporter-Telegram

[B. Kay Richter]

Children in daycare.

Lourdes Balduque/Getty Images


For Martha Oropesa, co-owner of the childcare facility Ready Set Educate Academy, the "nightmare" of operating next to a massage parlor appears to be over after an employee broke into her business while trying to evade police.


When she set up shop in the commercial building in the 2800 block of W. Wall St., she was told the neighbors were "nice."



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"We moved into the building in September of 2020, and then we opened for business in May of 2021," she told the Reporter-Telegram. "We never had any issues with the business next door until a toilet there was overflowing and causing damage to our side of the building."


Oropesa said she was forced to install outdoor cameras after one of the front windows of her childcare center was smashed with a brick.


"We installed cameras outside of our building for security, and that's when we noticed the amount of men coming in and out of the massage business," she said. "(Women) were there 24 hours a day, seven days a week. We knew something was suspicious because the men going there were parking on our side of the parking lot or farther down the street. They would never park directly in front of the massage business."


Then came the morning of Tuesday, April 29. The day began much like any other, but then Oropesa's business partner heard rattling in the janitor's closet. When they opened the door, they saw more than cleaning supplies: A hand was coming out of the wall.



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According to an arrest affidavit obtained by the Reporter-Telegram, the Midland Police Department, the Texas Department of Public Safety Criminal Investigations Division and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulations conducted a joint operation at Sunny Spa that morning.


"Upon the team's arrival, a male was contacted leaving the business, he was mirandized and admitted that he just paid the female inside of the business to perform a sexual act on him," MPD said. "Once seeing the team, a female locked the door and refused to open it. A search warrant was typed for the business, and the door was breached."


Oropesa and her business partner began hearing strange sounds after police attempted to enter the massage parlor.


"It's a janitor's closet, so we always lock the door because that's where the cleaning supplies are located," Oropesa explained. "When we noticed that there was a hand coming through the closet, that's when my business partner rushed outside to tell the officers."



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According to Oropesa, a police officer unlocked the closet door, grabbed the hand of the female, and then walked her out of the childcare facility with her hands behind her back.


"It was quite a shock, but the children were all safe," Oropesa said. "Honestly, the entire thing caught us all by surprise."


In the arrest affidavit, officers noted that while they were attempting to breach the door of the massage business, employees from the childcare facility contacted officers and stated the female subject had climbed into the vents and came through the ceiling to avoid capture.


"The female had busted through the wall and entered a daycare that had some 25 children inside," the report said.



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Law enforcement officers said they had to enter the childcare facility tactically to detain the suspect. MPD also said that the woman they sought — 55-year-old Yueh Hsien Huang — was identified by the "John" on scene as the person he had paid for the sexual act.


"Yueh Hsien Huang was aware that she was entering a daycare through the roof, she was aware that police officers had guns drawn and were breaking the glass door to detain her by her surveillance camera and officers yelling police and commanding her to open the door which she refused," the report said.


The report said that because Huang fled the scene and entered the childcare facility, she recklessly placed children in danger as she tried to avoid capture by police.


Huang is being detained at the Midland County Detention Center on a $25,000 bond for the child endangerment charge. Additionally, she is on a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services hold.



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Oropesa said that when the shock of Tuesday morning's incident wore off, she was grateful for the support of her clients and staff.


"We are blessed with a lot of parents who knew," she said. "Our parents are very understanding, and they know we have a very protective staff."
Oropesa also commended the Midland Police Department for handling the situation quickly and efficiently.


"They did not enter the (daycare) with guns drawn or anything like that," she said. "And the children were very calm the whole time, there was no yelling or commotion. The children were watching television when it happened, so they looked up for a minute but then went back to what they were watching."



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