AMERICAN FORK, Utah — A Utah man is suing a local police department and the officer who arrested him, saying the charges filed against him and the publicity he received ruined his life.
Joseph Edward Ferreri, 56, was arrested on Feb. 4, 2021, and later charged with four 2nd-degree felonies: aggravated exploitation of prostitution, human trafficking, money laundering, and pattern of unlawful activity. However, these charges were dropped nine months later.
Ferreri was arrested alongside his wife, Juying Wang, who worked at a Utah County massage parlor where multiple other women were arrested in the same case. All of their charges were also eventually dropped.
Ferreri has filed a lawsuit against the American Fork Police Department and Officer Shawn Lott for economic and non-economic losses he incurred. He claimed he was not involved in prostitution, but was only dropping off and picking up his wife from work.
According to the lawsuit, Ferreri lost his job at the Utah State Prison, where he had worked for 13 years, due to his arrest. Even after the charges were dropped, he says he was rejected three times from trying to be re-hired with the Department of Corrections. During this time, he also lost his health insurance, the suit says. The lawsuit lists economic losses as a result of his arrest, including: "attorney fees to defend himself from the charges, lost wages and benefits following his termination, uncovered medical expenses, the loss of his cell phone and other material seized and never returned."
In addition, Ferreri says he was publicly humiliated. Multiple local news outlets (not including FOX 13 News) covered his arrest, which was part of a raid on a massage parlor with several others arrested and charged. His mugshot was shown on the air and on local news websites.
"Friends saw him on the news. Strangers who recognized him in the small town where he lived gave him disgusted looks and humiliating distance," the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit claims Officer Lott targeted Ferreri, his wife, and the parlor where his wife worked based on racial stereotypes. It also claims the officer made sweeping and inaccurate generalizations about Asian-run massage parlors, along with other alleged false statements in his arrest report. One such statement was Lott concluding that the marriage between Ferreri and Wang "may not be legitimate." The lawsuit points out that this could have been verified when Lott contacted the Utah State Prison to ask about Ferreri, or a records search.
The lawsuit also accuses Lott of violating Ferreri's constitutional right to an attorney. It claims that Lott acknowledged Ferreri's request for a lawyer, but still continued to "elicit statements" from him.
"[Officer] Lott targeted Joe [Ferreri] based solely on Joe’s association with a Chinese woman who worked at a licensed massage business, despite an utter lack of any evidence of criminal conduct by Joe," the lawsuit read in part.
FOX 13 News reached out to the American Fork Police Department for a comment on the lawsuit but has not yet heard back.
