Moniteur de l’Arkansas rates this story PG-18. Thank you for protecting kids' innocence.
Woman pleads not guilty to charges that she offered services for money after Maumelle police conduct undercover investigation of her business, Diamond Reflexotherapy, Suite 100, 301 Millwood.
By Jay C. Grelen, Moniteur de l’Arkansas
A tip from the director of Maumelle’s Animal Services Department led to the arrest of a woman on a misdemeanor charge that she was plying the world’s oldest profession from her place of business in the shopping center at the corner of Millwood Circle and Club Manor Drive.
Li Qui was arrested on May 21, 2024. She gave her address as Baldwin Park, California. Attorney Daniel Webb of Little Rock pleaded innocent on Ms. Qui’s behalf at her Maumelle District Court arraignment on Tuesday (June 25, 2024). Ms. Qui did not appear. The trial of the State of Arkansas versus Li Qiu (Case Number MUC-24-734) is set for 2:30 p.m. September 27, 2024.
The investigation of Diamond Reflexotherapy started on May 16, 2024, the day that Maumelle Animal Services was sponsoring a pet adoption event in the parking lot of the shopping center. Chris Davis, director of Animal Services, and his employees became curious about “male patrons coming and going from Diamond Reflexotherapy every forty-five to sixty minutes.”
“Davis … entered into the business to see what services they offered,” according to Detective Zachary Sander’s police report. “Davis … had trouble understanding the employee due to a language barrier.”
Eventually, the woman gave Mr. Davis a business card, and he shared it with Deb Roush, chief of staff to Mayor Caleb Norris. In Detective Sanders’ conversation with Ms. Roush on May 17, according to the report, she told the detective that City Hall “had received several complaints regarding that business.”
On May 20, Maumelle investigators met with vice investigators from the Little Rock Police Department and made plans to conduct an undercover operation on May 21. They requested that Kelli Adcock of the Arkansas Department of Health participate in the investigation.
The next day, an undercover officer entered Diamond Reflexotherapy and spoke to Ms. Qui. “At a certain point during the massage the undercover officer, who was being monitored utilizing an electronic surveillance device, announced the code phrase” to indicate the massage had transitioned into illegal activity, according to the report. Officers entered the building and arrested Mrs. Qui.
“It also (was) discovered that Qui had been living in this facility with a small room with a futon, chest of drawers, and makeshift closet space,” Detective Sanders wrote.
Moniteur de l'Arkansas comforts the afflicted and afflicts the afflicters. If you’re an afflicter, buckle up and batten down. We’re here. If you’re afflicted, breathe easy. We’re here. We also write stories that have nothing to do with affliction.
This is Jay Grelen. I hope you remember me from my Sweet Tea column in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. The state’s largest newspaper published the column for seven years on the front page of its Arkansas section on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday.
I worked in the newspaper racket for 35 years, including stints at the Denver Post, the Lexington Herald-Leader, the Baton Rouge Morning Advocate, and the Mobile Register. My last stop was a 10-year stay at the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
In 2017, Governor Asa Hutchinson hired me as his senior writer; after nearly six years with Governor Hutchinson, I sharpened pencils and fixed bathroom faucets as chief of staff to the mayor of Maumelle (where I’ve lived for 21 years). In August 2023, a year to the day after he hired me, Hizzoner Caleb Norris promoted me to Maumelle’s Chief of Staff Emeritus.
When I returned from my tour of the dark side, the newspaper business had changed even more than when I left it. Now I’m a newspaper refugee clutching his manual typewriter and trying to stay afloat.
I have returned to writing for a living, and I am participating in the much balleyhooed rebirth of local journalism. The first mission of Moniteur de l'Arkansas is to chase the elected foxes away from the public henhouses, which belong to the constituents who voted them into office. Subscriptions are free, but paid subscriptions are available and welcome Before the end of the year, we will launch the literary Birdsong County Whistler exclusively for subscribers who choose the paid route.
I hope someone has noticed the ever evolving name of this publication. We went from Maumelle Monitor[ed] to Arkansas Monitor to Arkansas Moniteur to the current appellation, Moniteur de l'Arkansas. It’s been a crisis of identity, which is all the rage these days. At any rate, we have settled on a name, which reflects our French roots and our Southern global sweet tea perspective.
Thank you for reading, whatever you think of the name and however you choose to participate. Jay C. Grelen, Moniteur de l'Arkansas.
I’m dying at some of these names. Detective Adcock, Southern Heaux 🤦♀️