Six women from the Aries Spa in the Dorneyville Shopping Center, South Whitehall, have been charged with prostitution following an investigation by the Lehigh County Drug Task Force and South Whitehall Township police.

According to Lehigh County District Attorney Jim Martin, the FBI and Department of Homeland Security assisted with the investigation, which led to the Jan. 8 arrest of Xu Mya Gui Yue, 51; Jinyu Candy Yang, 43; Kim Young Soon, 55; Sun Mi Gege Lee, 36; and Xian Sara Shun Zi, 37; all of Queens, N.Y., and Pun Son Hutcheson, 61, of Vernon, Conn.

Charges against five of the women are third degree misdemeanors.

Hutcheson is charged with a felony for promoting prostitution, Martin said.

Martin said detectives seized $12,000 in cash, condoms, various documents, cell phones, a tablet computer and a laptop during the search.

Affidavits of probable cause prepared by Adam Knoblauch of the Drug Task Force allege South Whitehall police received sporadic complaints from 2008 to 2014 about the spa, including reports of men entering and leaving the back of the building, possible sexual activity occurring inside, and female employees living at the spa. In fall 2014, police received additional information and cultivated confidential informants who provided sufficient evidence for a search warrant.

Detectives also conducted surveillance on numerous occasions.

Last November, the building owner, Haresh Joshi, notified police he suspected there was sexual activity occurring in the spa and he had an ongoing problem with male patrons entering and exiting the back of the building.

Joshi said he later prohibited spa patrons from using the back entrance and he hired private investigators.

The investigators' reports detailed massages and sexual acts were allegedly performed in September 2014 and how much employees of the spa were paid.

Detectives did Internet searches and found sites featuring customers' testimonials describing sexual acts at the spa.

The investigation found other spa patrons who allegedly told police they paid for sexual acts at the spa.