Three young men are accused of forcing immigrants from China into prostitution, beating them with hammers and robbing them in hotels in Portland, Beaverton and Omaha, Nebraska.
The men face indictments in the two states but authorities said they suspect the three have been involved in identical attacks in other states.
They’re accused of using zip ties to restrain the women in hotel rooms, then beating them with hammers and stealing the cash they obtained through prostitution, according to federal and state records.
Xinyu Zhou, 21, Yuan Gao, 19, and Arian Esfadiari, 18, face federal indictment in Nebraska and state indictments in Multnomah and Washington counties. Beaverton and Portland police worked with FBI agents on the investigation.
The three men were arrested in Omaha, Nebraska, in December.
Gao and Zhou flew to Kansas City, Missouri, on Dec. 14, rented a car and drove to Nebraska, according to the federal indictment. The two bought zip ties and a hammer at a Home Depot in Omaha and the next day bought a black wig and black wig cap at a Party City store to disguise their appearances, according to the indictment. Esfadiari flew to Nebraska from Dallas and met up with his alleged accomplices, according to the indictment.
The three are accused of setting up a so-called “date” with one woman in a Hawthorn Suites hotel room in Omaha on Dec. 15, where they threatened her with a hammer and robbed her, the indictment says.
Similar attacks occurred in Portland and Beaverton in November, according to court records.
Beaverton police had responded to a robbery at a hotel near Southwest 158th Avenue on Nov. 25 and found a woman had been assaulted by three men. She was attacked with a hammer and suffered serious injuries, according to Sgt. Kevin McDonald.
It was the third assault last year involving a woman attacked and robbed by three men with a hammer at the same Beaverton hotel, according to Beaverton police.
On Nov. 5, members of a U.S. Marshals Service task force stumbled upon a woman bound to a chair who had been severely assaulted with a hammer in a hotel room in the 9700 block of Northeast Sandy Boulevard in Portland.
The marshals had gone to the hotel to look for a fugitive in an unrelated case. The marshals worked with Portland police to rescue the woman and investigate the assault, according to Portland police.
As police were on the scene, a second victim who had also been bound and beaten was discovered nearby, according to the Police Bureau.
The victims in the Portland attacks were both Chinese nationals who were brought to the United States on fraudulent visas and under misleading terms, according to Portland police. Victim advocates assigned to the Portland Police Bureau’s Human Trafficking Unit have been coordinating care and recovery efforts for the victims.
The federal indictment in Nebraska accuses the three of conspiracy to commit interference with interstate commerce by robbery.
Multnomah County obtained an indictment in late December against Gao and Zhou accusing each of two counts of compelling prostitution, 12 counts of robbery, three counts of unlawful use of a weapon, one count of first-degree assault and two counts of second-degree assault.
All three defendants gave statements to FBI agents ‘‘implicating the others in criminal activity involving multiple robberies,” according to federal court records.
Esfadiari’s defense lawyer, Jerry M. Hug in Nebraska, has asked a federal judge to suppress the statements. Hug said in court papers that Esfadiari, a native of Iran who turned 18 about four months before his arrest, had asked whether he could have a lawyer when FBI agents continued to question him for about an hour and a half after his arrest.
Hug also asked the court to sever the three defendant’s cases, arguing that the alleged confessions by the two co-defendants would harm his client.
The three defendants remain in custody in Nebraska, where the federal case is pending.
Police suspect other women were assaulted by the three defendants in the metropolitan Portland area. Anyone with information is asked to call Beaverton Police Detective Chad Opitz, at 503-526-2674. The three defendants are expected to be extradited to Oregon after their case is resolved in Nebraska.
