Nail salon owner, wife accused in sextortion and felony peeping scheme at Charlotte spa

CHARLOTTE — A popular Plaza Midwood nail salon’s owner and his wife are facing charges in a sextortion and felony peeping scheme at a local spa.

Michael Tran of the Tiptoe Nail Boutique in Plaza Midwood is accused of extortion and felony secret peeping. Tran’s wife, Becky Her, is charged with prostitution, felony secret peeping, and giving massages without a license.

Channel 9 spotted officers at the Tiptoe nail boutique on Tuesday and reviewed court documents outlying the charges. The case is in connection to the Nice Spa in northeast Charlotte.

Police say Tran texted a victim to say he had videos of him having sex with Tran’s wife. Warrants say Tran threatened to post the videos online, and he demanded $7,500 in exchange for a USB drive with all the files.

The warrant for Her, Tran’s wife, says she had sex with the victim for money 12 separate times at three separate locations, including the Nice Spa. The other locations were not disclosed.

Her’s warrant says after Tran demanded money from the victim, the victim confronted Her. Police say she secretly recorded the victim because her husband enjoyed viewing images of Her having sex with other men. The warrant also says her husband had attempted to extort money from other males by threatening to expose the images.

According to the warrant, the victim recorded the conversation with Her, and Her admitted to secretly recording them having sex.

Barbara Copeland, who was leaving a neighboring business on Thursday, says she saw the police descend on the Nice Spa on Tuesday.

“That looks bad on the industry because there should be no sex going on in the parlor,” she said.

The spa has black-out windows and was locked Thursday. No one answered the Ring doorbell outside the business.

Channel 9 also visited Tiptoe. Two employees inside saw Channel 9′s Joe Bruno arrive during business hours. They turned off a neon “open” sign, locked the door and went in the back. No one answered when Bruno knocked.

Following an email to Tiptoe, Tran’s attorney emailed Bruno to say Tran has no comment.

Tran’s bond was posted. It was set at $100,000 secured. Her’s bond was set at $5,000 unsecured. She is also out of jail.

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