Victim of Midland ‘Baseball Bat Assault’ Connected to Prostitution Ring

A victim of the "baseball bat assault" in Midland turns out to be part of a nationwide prostitution ring.

According to the Midland Reporter-Telegram, the woman assaulted was found to be working as a prostitute in Midland.

Federal officials "indicted nine members of the ring Tuesday in a wide-ranging racketeering and sex trafficking case in which the defendants are accused of recruiting mostly undocumented immigrant Chinese women to work as prostitutes in hotels across the country,” according to a report in the New York Daily News.

“Group members tied up and beat women who its leaders believed were working independently or for other organizations as sex workers, prosecutors said,” that also coming from the report in the New York Daily News.

The assaults were against 15 women in five states including the victim in Midland that happened in October 2020, according to the report, the victim became unconscious after a beating from a baseball bat by Siyu Chen, one of the members of the prostitution ring.

The article also states that another member of the prostitution ring, Bo Jiang, wrote a message on WeChat to Chen the day before the attack saying, "Beat [her] to death tomorrow. If she dares fight back, beat her more viciously.”

In the New York Daily News article, they report that the prostitution ring was based in Queens and the charges include racketeering, sex trafficking, robbery, and assault.

Seven of the nine defendants are looking at life in prison while two others are looking at 20 years in prison if convicted.