Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media
achedden@currentargus.com

A woman police said led a prostitution ring at massage parlors throughout southeast New Mexico and West Texas was sentenced to a year in federal prison, while her son was released from custody after being charged for his role in the criminal enterprise.

Shaoping Wen, 65, and her son Xu Wang, 42, were sentenced in federal court in the Northern District of Texas on March 18 after being indicted in September 2024 for conspiracy to use interstate travel in aid of racketeering enterprises. Wen and Wang were arrested in March 2024 in Carlsbad and Roswell, respectively.

The pair made initial federal court appearances in Las Cruces, and in September 2024 were extradited to face prosecution in Texas where the investigation began in the Lubbock area.

Wen pleaded guilty in November 2024 and was sentenced to 12 months and one day in federal prison, followed by a year of supervised release. She was also ordered to forfeit $291,990 in cash police believed was tied to the illegal businesses and pay a $1.8 million judgment to the federal government.

For his role in the conspiracy, Wang pleaded guilty to misprision of a felony in November 2024, and was sentenced to time served of 362 days, meaning he already served his prison term awaiting trial and will be on supervised release for another year.

Misprision of a felony means Wang admitted to concealing his knowledge of a felony being committed and failed to report it to authorities. Investigators said he operated the parlors while his mother Wen was out of town, and that both of them were seen paying bail for women arrested in the past for prostitution at the parlors.

Charges stem from raids in Carlsbad and other New Mexico cities

What follows is a summary of the events leading up to Wen’s and Wang’s arrests, according to federal criminal complaints.

Investigators said Wen owned and operated two “illicit” massage parlors in Carlsbad, two in Roswell, one in Clovis and three in the Lubbock area. Other parlors Wen owned in Lubbock were previously closed by law enforcement, police said, due to “prostitution and landlord evictions.”

Undercover operations in New Mexico were conducted in February and March 2024, as police gathered evidence of prostitution at each of the parlors. The number of women accused of prostitution while in Wen and Wang’s employ was unclear as were the women’s ages and citizenship status.

The New Mexico parlors were tied to an initial investigation that began in June 2023 when a “concerned citizen” contacted police about potential human trafficking in Wolforth, Texas, a Lubbock suburb.

Four days later, an undercover operation was conducted at that location. An undercover officer entered the parlor and was greeted by a woman wearing lingerie, who he paid $60 for a massage, read the complaint. She later agreed to have sex with the officer for $140; the officer told the woman he had changed his mind and left the parlor.

Other people in the area subsequently reported suspicions to local police that the massage parlor only served men and that women were getting dropped off with luggage and going straight into the business where they appeared to live. Observers also said the business appeared to serve customers until midnight, and that they would stay for about 30 or 40 minutes at a time.

Advertisements for the parlors were found on known sex trafficking online platforms “Skipthegames” and “Rubmaps,” read the complaint.

Police searched another parlor in August 2023 in Lubbock, finding beds on the floor, hygiene products and clothing that police said indicated women were living there. It was a piece of paper found at that business with Wen’s email address that linked the suspect to the illegal parlor.

Subsequent searches at other parlors revealed similar evidence, along with receipts from stores in Roswell. Police then obtained a mobile tracking warrant for Wen’s red Hyundai Santa Fe, following her to two parlors in Carlsbad in the 300 block of Canyon Street and the 700 block of Guadalupe Street.

Wen was also tracked to parlors in the 1100 block of South Main Street and 2600 block of North Main Street in Roswell and the 800 block of North Prince Street in Clovis. Police later confirmed all five New Mexico parlors were owned by Wen, and she was observed picking up groups of women from the Roswell Air Center and bringing them to the parlors.

Police said sting operations were conducted in February 2024 at the New Mexico locations, where undercover agents reported women who worked at the parlors offered them sex for money.

Police later observed Wen traveling to a casino in Commerce, California, where investigators learned that she laundered money, buying casino chips and cashing out for about $1.7 million in “clean money” between January 2018 and August 2023.

From staff reports

Artesia Car Enthusiasts, Artesia Chamber of Commerce, and Artesia MainStreet are bringing you the 26th Annual Main Event Car Show & Cruise 2025. Last year’s record number of cars is sure to be beaten again as they have expanded areas for vehicle display, food vendors, and tractor row.

Everyone is invited to attend as downtown Artesia transforms into one of the hottest spots for car enthusiasts, residents, and visitors. People come together to enjoy a weekend filled with cruising, friendly competition, and lots of fun for the whole family.

Spectators are FREE!

Period dress attire is encouraged!

2025 Schedule

All Day • Food Trucks

Adrian Hedden
El Rito Media
achedden@currentargus.com

Lawmakers voted in the final days of this year’s legislative session to raise fees oil and gas companies pay to drill on state land. The session concluded Saturday, March 22, in Santa Fe.

Senate Bill 23, one of the few oil and gas regulatory bills to survive during a session that primarily focused on public safety, was passed on the House floor March 20 on a 37-31 vote.

For the bill to become law, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham must sign it by April 11. If the governor takes no action, the bill will be “pocket vetoed.”

SB 23 would increase from 20% to 25% the cap on royalty rates oil and gas operators pay as a percentage of their proceeds from fossil fuels extracted from State Trust land. The higher rates would apply to tracts of State Trust land in the Permian Basin – mostly in Eddy and Lea counties – which the New Mexico State Land Office appraises at the highest value.

The 25% rate would be assessed only on new leases signed after SB 23 becomes law or on older leases that are terminated and re-signed.

Charging the higher rate could increase revenue to the Land Office by between $50 million and $75 million a year, according to an analysis by the Legislative Finance Committee. The Office manages New Mexico State Trust land, holding monthly lease auctions and overseeing other approvals needed to produce energy on state land.

The money generated for the Land Office from such activities is distributed to its statutory beneficiaries, mostly public schools throughout the state.

In reaction to the House’s vote to pass SB 23, State Land Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard, who has advocated to raise the rate since she took office in 2019 and paused leasing of the lands in question until such a reform came to pass, said the higher rate was “the right thing to do.”

She said the 25% royalty for Permian Basin land brought New Mexico in line with the rate charged in neighboring Texas, which shares the Permian Basin with New Mexico.

“This is exactly why I ran for this office – to make as much money as possible for school kids and our public institutions,” Garcia Richard said in a statement. “We are finally getting a fair, market value for the public resources that belong to all New Mexicans.”

Republicans continued to oppose the bill during debate on the House floor before SB 23 was passed. Rep. Mark Murphy (R-59) of Chaves County argued the moratorium Garcia Richard placed on the lands subject to the increase delayed revenue to the state of New Mexico, and impeded progress for its key industry.

New Mexico’s oil and gas industry produced about $13 billion in state and local revenue in the last fiscal year, according to the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association, and accounted for about a third of the state’s budget.

Murphy said increased regulations could put that economic boom at risk.

“I would suggest that forgoing 30% of a revenue stream for any period of time in order to receive 5% more just doesn’t really make a lot of sense to me,” he said. “The State Land Office obviously thinks it does.”

Wells subjected to the 25% royalty rate would also likely operate for shorter periods than wells at lower rates that are less expensive to maintain, Murphy argued, “due to common sense economics.”

Rep. Matthew McQueen (D-50) of Santa Fe said the wells in the Permian Basin, where operators would pay the higher rate, would be more productive than others and the higher rate would be worth it to operators.

“These are desirable tracts. These are where oil companies are eager to drill new wells,” McQueen said. “These aren’t exploratory wells. They know what they’re getting into.”

Murphy responded that New Mexico operators, even before the royalty rate is raised, must contend with a higher “tax burden” to drill in the state, compared with Texas.

“New Mexico has one of the highest burdens when you consider taxes and royalties,” he said. “If we continue to add to that burden, it’s going to make our tracts less attractive.”

Oil and gas bills struggle in session

Aside from SB 23, most other bills that would directly impact the oil and gas industry struggled to gain momentum and ultimately ended the session without being approved for Lujan Grisham’s signature.

Senate Bill 4 would have set statewide greenhouse gas reduction targets, putting into law benchmarks set by Lujan Grisham via a 2019 executive order that included a goal of “net zero” emissions by 2050. SB 4 was tabled by the Senate Finance Committee after being passed by the Senate Conservation Committee.

House Bill 35 was intended to set “children’s health protection zones” by requiring oil and gas facilities be at least a mile away from schools and associated facilities. HB 35 passed the House Health and Human Services Committee but was still awaiting a hearing in the House Judiciary Committee as the session ended.

House Bill 258 would codify into law a policy at the Oil Conservation Division created in 2022 to require all oil and gas operators capture 98% of produced natural gas by 2026. That bill passed two House committees but never got a vote on the House Floor.