Trio sentenced to prison for robbing two Massachusetts spas, duct-taping victims

BURLINGTON, Mass. (WWLP) – A man from Malden was sentenced to prison in connection with robbing two Massachusetts spas at gunpoint, and duct-taped victims.

According to the Department of Justice in Boston, in June 2022 Li Wen Tang entered the Balance Reflexology Spa in Brookline pretending to be a customer seeking a massage. Because the victim was the only employee in the spa that night, she locked the door before taking Tang into the back room to begin the massage.

Tang said he no longer wanted a massage and demanded a refund. The employee called her boss to approve the refund. While she was on the phone in the lobby, Tang unlocked the front door, and two masked men, later identified as Alfeu Barbosa and Jonas Nunez, entered the business carrying firearms.

Once inside the business, one of the men hit the employee in the face, knocking her to the floor and putting a gun to her head. Barbosa and Nunez then pulled the victim by her hair into the back hallway, bound her wrists and ankles with duct tape, and gagged her. The men ransacked the spa and found approximately $500 along with the victim’s cell phone and left. Surveillance video showed all three men drive away together.

On the same night, Barbosa, Nunez, and another person committed a similar robbery of May’s Spa Massage in Stoneham. They entered the business wearing masks and firearms and duct-taped several victims who were in the spa at the time. They stole approximately $600, three cell phones, a person’s license, gift cards, and credit and debit cards from the business and victims. They were seen leaving in the same vehicle.

Tang was sentenced to 78 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Barbosa was sentenced to 121 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Nunez was sentenced to 23 months in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.

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