Defendants in San Diego massage parlor prostitution case to pay at least $50k each - CBS News 8

[Alex Lai]

Owners and operators of the Kearny Mesa massage parlor accused of being a front for prostitution settled civil charges with the City Attorney's Office.



SAN DIEGO — The investigation into Ocean Spa Massage Parlor on Kearny Villa Road started after neighboring businesses complained of foot traffic at odd hours, people having sex in parked cars and noises of a sexual nature loud enough to disrupt a nearby church service.


San Diego Police Department said Ocean Spa workers offered to sell sex to undercover officers on four different occasions, and found more than 1,200 online ads offering sex acts at the massage parlor over a five-year period.


After the parlor was shut down at the beginning of the year, the City Attorney's Office filed a civil law enforcement action to prevent any sort of prostitution or human trafficking activity in the future. The action and charges applied to the two property owners, property company and the two massage parlor operators.


CBS 8 spoke with Deputy City Attorney Isabel Ignacio who explained what the action means.


"For the property owners, they are not allowed to lease their business or have a contract with a business that might be a massage parlor that would engage in this sort of activity again," Ignacio said. "And as for the operators, it would be something along the lines of they are not allowed to operate as a massage practitioner or operate a massage parlor within the City of San Diego."


Wednesday, the owners and operators agreed on the action and civil charges by the City Attorney. The four defendants will each pay $50,000 up front, but will owe $550,000 if they break the action.


"If we get complaints or we see any activity that would indicate that this is happening again, including prostitution or human trafficking, then this settlement would basically come into effect," Ignacio said.


In addition, they must pay SDPD's investigative costs, which Ignacio estimated to be around $12,000, but will vary on the person. They are also required to donate $6,000 each to a local non-profit dedicated to fighting human trafficking.


"We're always trying to see if there's anything additional we can do for the victims, which is why we wanted to also include that nonprofit agency donation," Ignacio said.


One of the operators, Sean Xu, was pursued by the District Attorney's Office. He pleaded guilty to two labor code violations and was fined an additional $10,000 and sentenced to two years' probation.


The civil charges by the City Attorney's Office in this case are wrapped up but the status of any potential criminal charges is unclear.