Couple Accused of Running Massage Parlor Trafficking Ring Bound Over to Circuit Court as Oakland County Sting Nets Company Executives
Paul Richard Katterman II and Zixuan Wan, accused of forcing women to live and work in Metro Detroit massage parlors, will be arraigned in circuit court Aug. 27, as an Oakland County task force says it has arrested 45 buyers, including company executives, engineers and a dealership owner.
A Livonia man and a woman accused of running a human trafficking operation out of massage parlors in Commerce Township, Farmington Hills and Westland were bound over to circuit court this week. The case advances as Oakland County's human trafficking task force says it is stepping up pressure on the men who pay for sex.
Paul Richard Katterman II, 57, faces two counts of human trafficking, keeping a house of prostitution, conducting a criminal enterprise and failure to file taxes. Zixuan Wan, 44, faces two counts of human trafficking, keeping a house of prostitution, second-degree money laundering, conducting a criminal enterprise and failure to file taxes. Both are scheduled to be arraigned in circuit court on Aug. 27 at 8:30 a.m.
According to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, Katterman and Wan required women to live inside the massage parlors they operated and work from 9 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, for little pay. Investigators say the women were forced to perform sex work as part of that arrangement. The case grew out of an investigation into massage parlors across Oakland and Wayne counties that first drew public attention in March 2025.
The couple's bindover comes as the Oakland County Sheriff's Office human trafficking unit works the other side of the transaction: the men who show up at hotels expecting to pay for sex. Detective Sgt. Mike Miles, who commands the unit, said undercover operations built around events like the Woodward Dream Cruise have become some of the busiest weeks of the year for traffickers looking to set up in hotels and short-term rentals, and for detectives looking to catch the buyers who keep that business running.
Miles said the men caught in these stings are not a narrow slice of the population. He described them as married, blue collar and white collar, spanning company CEOs, engineers and dealership owners. In one recent operation, investigators made contact with 45 different male subjects in five hours. Across its work, the task force has arrested 45 individuals, including buyers, resulting in 57 felony charges and 19 misdemeanors.
Miles said the reaction from men caught in the stings is often less about the law and more about exposure at home. He recounted one case in which a man dropped his family off at a wedding reception, then left to meet who he believed was a woman he had been messaging online, only to be met by detectives instead. Miles said many of the men do not grasp, or choose not to grasp, that the person texting them is frequently not the woman they expect to meet but her trafficker, arranging the encounter and collecting the money.
Cindy Brown, chief of the Human Trafficking Division, said the task force treats the problem as one requiring pressure from several directions at once: arresting traffickers, arresting buyers, and identifying and assisting victims who might otherwise never come into contact with police. Brown said technology now lets investigators trace individual traffickers across multiple commercial sex websites and follow them beyond Oakland County and beyond Michigan, which she said has allowed the unit to identify victims it would not have found through a single hotel tip or hospital referral.
The task force currently draws officers from the Southfield and Auburn Hills police departments along with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. Michigan State Police and the Rochester Police Department are expected to join the effort.
The Katterman and Wan case is one prosecution among many the task force is pursuing. The operation involved massage parlors in three suburbs, and prosecutors allege it was profitable enough to trigger money laundering and tax charges in addition to the trafficking counts.
Neither Katterman nor Wan has entered a plea in circuit court. Their arraignment on Aug. 27 will set the schedule for pretrial hearings and, if the case proceeds, a trial date. The Oakland County Sheriff's Office has not said whether additional arrests tied to the massage parlor operation are expected.
Anyone who suspects a child or adult is being trafficked, or is at risk of being trafficked, can call the Oakland County tip line at 855-444-3911, or 911 in an emergency. The National Human Trafficking Resource Center can be reached at 888-373-7888 or by texting 233733.
