Mt. Pleasant woman's appeal of human trafficking conviction rejected

A Chinese national’s 2019 human trafficking conviction was upheld this week by a state appeals court.

Hui Xu, 48, formerly of Mt. Pleasant, completed a sentence of nearly two years in jail in 2021. She pleaded guilty to two counts of human trafficking and single charges of promoting prostitution and conspiracy. Police said she operated massage parlors in Murrysville, Delmont and Monroeville, where workers performed sex acts for clients.

Westmoreland County Common Pleas Judge Scott Mears rejected her initial appeal of the conviction last year. Xu contended her plea was not valid because she did not understand the impact of her decision to admit guilt.

A three-judge panel this week upheld Mears’ ruling and dismissed the challenge, saying that because Xu completed her sentence before the appeal was filed, it rendered the court action as moot. The appeals court did not rule on Xu’s claim that her guilty plea should be disallowed because of errors made by her former lawyer.

Defense lawyer James DePasquale said after a hearing before Mears last summer that a federal immigration judge ordered Xu to be deported in June 2021 but that she was released from custody after China refused to allow her to reenter the country.

Xu’s current whereabouts are unknown, and DePasquale did not return a call seeking comment.

Prosecutors said women were brought into Western Pennsylvania from China through a network that ran through Flushing, N.Y. Authorities said the women worked at massage parlors owned by Xu, who also was known as Sherry Caruso, before her arrest in March 2019.

According to court records and previous testimony, Xu, with her husband, Henry “Sonny” Caruso, conspired to operate the human trafficking ring through the massage parlors and laundered proceeds from the businesses.

Caruso, 49, a former jail guard who worked at Westmoreland County Prison, would have been charged for his role in the operation had he not committed suicide in 2018, a state prosecutor said.