Chicago woman extradited from Hong Kong on charges of operating Indiana prostitution ring

HAMMOND, Ind. – A Chicago woman was extradited to the United States last week from Hong Kong to face charges of operating a prostitution ring in Indiana.

These charges resulted from an investigation conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) and the FBI.

Rita Law, 55, of Chicago, was charged in a sealed complaint filed Oct. 17 in the Northern District of Indiana with transporting an individual for the purposes of prostitution.

According to the complaint, which is now unsealed, Law is suspected of operating a prostitution ring out of three massage parlors in northwest Indiana. Law was arrested October 18 after deplaning from a Cathay Pacific airline flight in Hong Kong. The HSI Attaché Hong Kong Office coordinated with the Hong Kong Department of Justice and the Hong Kong Police Force to arrest and extradite Law back to the United States to face the charges contained in the complaint.

Significant assistance in this investigation was provided by the HSI Attaché Hong Kong Office.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Susan Collins, Northern District of Indiana, is prosecuting this case.

The public is reminded that an indictment contains only charges and is not evidence of guilt. The defendant is presumed innocent and is entitled to a fair trial at which the government has the burden of proving guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.