4 Santa Cruz massage parlors busted for prostitution - KSBW The Central Coast

[massage]

The Santa Cruz Police Department conducted an undercover human trafficking and prostitution sting focusing on local massage therapy parlors.


The operation was spurred by community complaints and suspicions about illegal activities occurring within the businesses.

Four local massage parlors were visited by undercover officers.

"In all four locations, employees solicited the undercover officers by offering to perform sex acts in exchange for money during the course of the massage," SCPD spokeswoman Joyce Blaschke said.

The businesses are: Lucky Valley Health Center at 827 Water Street, Asian Massage at 212 Fern Street, Health Care Massage at 223 River Street, and Golden Bay Spa at 551 Frederick Street.

Four women were cited for soliciting an act of prostitution. They are Chinese nationals between 30-50 years old.

An SCPD victim advocate and an advocate from Monarch Services accompanied the arrest operation to determine if any of the prostitutes were victims of human trafficking. The team also included Mandarin and Cantonese language translators.

"It is not uncommon to find that women working in such businesses, engaging in illegal acts of prostitution, are indeed victims of a larger human trafficking operation," Blaschke said.

Services for victims of human trafficking are available at: the National Human Trafficking Hotline, 1-888-373-7888, and Monarch Services 1-888-900-4232.

Recommended

This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service - if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.