By admin As part of a broader investigation into local illegal massage parlors, Santa Rosa police and community advocates rescued three women last week who were believed to have survived human trafficking.
Police and law enforcement officials were conducting surveillance and inspections when, during one of four inspections on Oct. 9, they encountered women, none of whom were state-certified massage therapists.
According to Verity Executive Director Rebecca Fein, staff from Verity, a counseling and crisis center in Sonoma County, were present and offered each woman an attorney, temporary housing and out-of-state flights.
These situations “involve a lot of fear and the feeling that you can’t get out. Our people are here to help provide an immediate safe place to land,” she said.
Although most local massage businesses operate legally, residents near downtown Santa Rosa have expressed concern that massage businesses have darkened windows, locked doors, long and late hours, and reviews or advertisements on erotic massage websites.
Community attention and subsequent reporting by The Press Demokrat prompted the city to take a closer look at the operators and to update and strengthen regulations governing the industry locally.
The company where the women were intercepted was ordered to close for violating regulations. Police have not identified the business and have not yet made any arrests as they try to establish any links between other illegal massage businesses.
The day before the October 9 operation, law enforcement conducted surveillance of two suspected illegal massage businesses, recording the license plates of 12 customers. Police told The Press Democrat they will take further action to provide clients with education about human trafficking and investigate them for illegal activity.
According to Sgt. The Santa Rosa Police Department’s Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Task Force will also recommend filing misdemeanor charges against business owners who advertise on commercial sex websites. Patricia Seffens.
“Illegal massage businesses often operate undetected, masking serious criminal activity, including human trafficking and exploitation,” Police Chief John Cregan said in a statement to The Press Democrat. “The Santa Rosa Police Department is committed to identifying and investigating these businesses for code violations and, more importantly, rescuing victims from these dangerous environments.”
These operations are the latest and significant step in a partnership launched earlier this year between Code Enforcement, the Santa Rosa Police Department and Verity aimed at rooting out illegal activity, specifically sex trafficking in massage businesses.
A series of visits to massage establishments in February to file complaints revealed a number of city ordinance violations, some minor and some more serious, at eight establishments. Enforcing the Code gave each company the opportunity to correct problems.
The department is limited to dealing with issues that violate city code, while the police are responsible for identifying and responding to illegal practices. Law enforcement officials have said they want to avoid criminalizing victims as part of this effort.
Just one of the four businesses investigated by police last week was among the eight massage businesses cited in February.
Shutdowns due to code violations
According to Code Enforcement, investigations into the first eight companies are ongoing and “this process can be very, very time-consuming.”
But city spokeswoman Katy Oceguera added: “One business was successfully closed. One case with only minor violations was quickly resolved and closed, while others are still in various stages of the permitting and enforcement process.”
Law enforcement did not identify the closed business but said city code violations led to lease violations. This provided the property owner with grounds to terminate the contract and issue an injunction.
On Friday, The Press Demokrata visited massage parlors targeted by enforcement agencies earlier this year and found that two now appear to be closed.
Both have similar names – AAA – but are located in different parts of Santa Rosa. Previously, working hours were 12 or more hours a day, seven days a week. Both have also been listed on an erotic massage review website.
However, none of the companies participated in police activities last week, and the citations recorded in public records were only for code violations.
One of the businesses, AAA Spa – also known as AAA Asian Spa in some documents – on Santa Rosa’s northwest side, closed about four months ago, according to employees of a nearby business. There was a notice in the window that PG&E had turned off the gas to the vacant property on October 9.