- Local every day in
Police Cite 14 Downtown Businesses for Alleged Violations of City's Massage Ordinance
This weekend's check was part of a routine effort by Walnut Creek police to make sure that massage businesses are complying with a city ordinance--and not doing anything improper.
Walnut Creek Police Department's checklist for anyone wanting to open a massage therapy business.
Pdfs (1)
Pdfs
During a semi-regular check of businesses marketing massage services, Walnut Creek police patrol officers found 14 that were in violation of a two-year-old ordinance designed to cut down on prostitution operations masquerading as legitimate massage therapy studios.
The 14 businesses police visited were generally cited for either having technicians working on the premises who did not have permits or for not keeping their paperwork in order, according to Lt. Mark Covington.
The visited businesses had permits with the city, and Covington says officers found no evidence, during their check Saturday afternoon and evening, of illicit sex operations or of human trafficking. Officers issued citations to the businesses they visited. He added that this operation didn't involve any kind of undercover work and that no events or complaints prompted Saturday's compliance checks.
In the years before Walnut Creek adopted its massage parlor ordinance in 2008, the town was becoming known as a hotbed for prostitution.
Then, as now, prostitutes were marketing their services in online ads on Craigslist and erotic services sites. According to a report in Diablo magazine, these purveyors of sex in Walnut Creek and nearby suburbs can range from independent high-priced prostitutes advertising "in call" in hotel rooms and apartments to strip-mall and downtown storefronts disguised as massage-therapy studios.
One of the primary concerns about certain massage parlors, among law enforcement and human rights advocates, is that they are staffed by women who have recently come to the United States, usually from Asia, and who may have been smuggled here and forced into sex work to pay off debts to crime gangs.
At the time Walnut Creek adopted its ordinance, the city was lagging behind other Contra Costa cities in passing laws to prevent illicit sex operations from opening up in town. All surrounding cities had ordinances in place.
The Walnut Creek ordinance basically requires applicants for a massage license to prove they have a certain level of training in massage therapy and have not been convicted within the past 10 years of crimes such as solicitation, assault, fraud, or sex offenses. The operator of a massage business must receive zoning approval, undergo building and health inspections, and be able to provide certificates for their staff, showing they are trained in massage therapy. Massage studio operators who lease space in buildings must also show proof that the building's owner is aware of the kind of business they are operating.
The businesses visited Saturday have addresses in and around the downtown core area, including on Locust Street, Olympic Boulevard, Newell Avenue and Mt. Diablo Boulevard. Others are located off North Main Street and Ygnacio Valley Road.
Thanks. We'll email you the next time we update this story.
Martha Ross
7:46 am on Tuesday, August 3, 2010
It's possible that Walnut Creek's ordinance and these sorts of compliance checks are working. There are signs as in:
There is this adult services website--the police are well aware of this site and "patrol" it as well as the better known Craigslist. And, if I were a guy looking for some extracurricular action, I could search individual providers by town, looks, and establishments by name, address, even phone number. Using the site is free. BUT ... if a guy pays something, , to get a VIP membership, he can view client reviews of individual technicians at these establishments.
In those client reviews--which you have to take with the proverbial grain of salt--guys will talk sometimes graphically about the massage technician, her looks, what she's wearing, and how she performs the massage. The clients will talk openly or hint teasingly about whether the women get sexual. >>> Continued >>>
Martha Ross
7:52 am on Tuesday, August 3, 2010
So, i have a partial list of the establishments visited by police over the weekend. I cross-referenced them on this site, and obtained a VIP membership, to read client reviews of the technicians at most of these establishments.
Back in 2005, when I researched the topic of Internet prostitution for a story Diablo magazine, I looked at client reviews for questionable massage studios in Walnut Creek. In those reviews, the clients talked openly about how the women touched them in sexual ways or allowed themselves to be touched. Yes, there were references to "happy endings."
Well, in reading more recent reviews of the establishments visited this past weekend--reviews going back over the past year or so-I only found one overt reference to a sex act. In more cases, the poor clients went away a little disappointed, not getting all they expected. At one place, a provider shook her head at a client's request for some sexual healing, saying: "My boss would fire me!"
Martha Ross
11:02 am on Tuesday, August 3, 2010
And one more thing! Or two or three...
A reader asked if I had the list of establishments visited and cited. I have what I'll call a partial list. Lt. Covington was going officers notes; he had addresses and/or establishment names. Before publishing the list, I'd want to have the citations in front of me. When I cross-checked the names and addresses against other online sources, some of the names were different. Owners change or businesses change. I will say that I found the majority of these businesses, with the names or addresses I was given, on this erotic services site. That doesn't automatically mean prostitution is going on -- or anything illegal is going on. It just means they're listed there. Maybe the owners are trying to market themselves in a certain way. Maybe the clients have certain expectation--that may not be met if the operators are trying to operate legitimately.