COOK COUNTY, IL – A Chicago man has been charged with promoting prostitution after Cook County Sheriff’s Police arrested him at his home after arranging to meet a woman at his home who offered to exchange sex for money, Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart announced today.
Investigators from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Special Victim’s Unit responded to an online advertisement promoting prostitution and received the location where services were being provided, where they observed activity keeping with promoting a house of prostitution.
At approximately 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, March 10, SVU Investigators who made appointments via text message to meet the victim for sex arrived at a residence in the 600 block of West 31st Street in Chicago. Upon arrival, the investigators were met at the door by a male resident of the home identified as Xin Jun Zhu, age 50.
Zhu verified that the text messages were sent from the investigators’ cellphones, and then directed them to a room where a female victim was waiting, at which point Zhu and the woman were both taken into custody for questioning.
Through the investigation, it was learned that Zhu was receiving money from the female victim. She was released without charges and offered support services by Sheriff’s Office.
Zhu was charged with promoting prostitution within 1,000 feet of a school and promoting prostitution/profit and appeared in the George N. Leighton Criminal Courthouse for a bond hearing on March 12, where he was issued a $10,000 D bond.
The public is reminded that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty by the government in a court of law.