BOSTON, MA – Li Wen Tang, a 33-year-old man from Malden, Massachusetts, has been sentenced to 78 months in prison for his role in a series of violent armed robberies targeting spas. Tang, who was convicted in April 2024, was sentenced on Tuesday by U.S. District Court Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton. In addition to his prison term, Tang will serve three years of supervised release.
Tang’s sentencing comes after he pleaded guilty to two counts of robbery affecting commerce. Along with his co-defendants, Alfeu Barbosa and Jonas Nunez, Tang orchestrated the violent robberies in June 2022, during which the victims were brutally assaulted, bound with duct tape, and robbed at gunpoint.
On the evening of June 12, 2022, Tang entered the Balance Reflexology Spa in Brookline, posing as a customer. After claiming he felt unwell and asking for a refund, he unlocked the spa’s front door, allowing Barbosa and Nunez, both masked and armed, to enter. The victim, the only employee in the spa that night, was hit in the face, dragged into a hallway, and duct-taped by the assailants while they demanded money. The robbers stole $500 and the victim’s cell phone before fleeing.
Later that night, the group carried out a similar attack at May’s Spa Massage in Stoneham. They duct-taped multiple victims and stole $600 in cash, cell phones, and personal belongings, including a victim’s license and credit cards, before leaving in the same vehicle used in the Brookline robbery.
Co-defendant Nunez was sentenced in April 2024 to 23 months in prison. Barbosa, convicted by a jury in March 2024, received a sentence of 121 months in July. All three men were indicted by a federal grand jury after their arrests in 2022.
The case highlights the violent tactics used by the defendants and the coordinated efforts of law enforcement to bring them to justice.
