JOSHUA WOLFSON Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Thursday, July 2, 2009 12:00 am
A Korean woman convicted of prostitution at Tokyo Massage parlor has chosen to drop her appeal.
The lawyer for Okki Shoffler filed a request to dismiss her appeal less than a month after it was filed in Natrona County District Court. The attorney, Assistant Public Defender Tim Cotton, indicated his client no longer wished to pursue the appeal, court papers show.
Cotton filed the appeal at the beginning of June.
A jury in May convicted Shoffler of two counts of prostitution following a two-day trial. She had insisted it was a case of mistaken identity, but four johns testified to having sex with her at Tokyo Massage.
Afterward, Cotton said she would almost certainly be deported due to the conviction. Shoffler is not a U.S. citizen, but has lived in here legally for decades.
As of last month, Shoffler was being held in Denver by immigration, according to court papers.
Shoffler is the only Tokyo Massage defendant to face trial. The remaining suspects, which included three other people who worked at the Natrona County brothel and several johns, all pleaded guilty or made plea agreements with prosecutors.
The charges stem from a multi-agency investigation of Tokyo Massage that culminated in a Jan. 7 raid on the business. The massage parlor, which had long been rumored to be a brothel, was shut down by order of the Natrona County Sheriff's Office.
Reach crime reporter Joshua Wolfson at (307) 266-0582 or at josh.wolfson@trib.com. Read his blog at tribtown.trib.com/JoshuaWolfson/blog.