UPDATE - DECEMBER 1:
Sparks officials say their latest enforcement effort has now closed every known illegal massage parlor in the city, after the business licenses for the Massage Shop, also known as Lucky Day Massage, and the Royal Spa and Massage were revoked.
The City of Sparks said that City Attorney Wes Duncan made the decision to revoke the additional business licenses of the two suspected illegal brothels, after working with the Human Exploitation and Trafficking Team, known as HEAT, following the early October shutdown of Shanghai Spa, and wraps up an investigation that spanned from the end of June to October.
HEAT detectives reported five key findings during their lengthy investigation.
Investigators said the locations were advertising sexual services on known prostitution websites and that the phone number tied to the businesses showed unique ads on several of those sites.
Detectives also reported numerous sexually explicit online reviews written by people who described sexual services they said were offered there.
HEAT officers said they conducted surveillance, interviewed purchasers often called “Johns,” and that those interviews included admissions of paying for sexual services. The team also received an anonymous tip from a man who said he attempted to get a massage at the Massage Shop and told detectives the business was “a front for prostitution.”
Duncan said the findings provided evidence that illegal activity was happening, which led to the revocation of both licenses.
“In October, the City Attorney’s Office made it clear that we will not tolerate illegal massage parlors in our City,” Duncan said. He added, “Today I am pleased to announce that through our partnership with the HEAT team, we have shut down the last two known illegal massage parlors in Sparks.”
HEAT Sergeant Jacob Kinkaid issued a statement thanking the city for supporting the team’s work. “We at HEAT thank Wes Duncan and the Sparks City Attorney’s Office for their continued support in removing illicit businesses from our community. Their efforts help to protect those victimized and exploited, especially women often forced into this kind of labor, and bring us closer to ending human exploitation and trafficking by cutting off the systems that profit from it,” he said.
Duncan also said his office will continue to monitor any business suspected of operating as a front. “Let me be clear: if any entity attempts to pose as a massage business but is a front for an illegal brothel, you will be investigated and shut down. Our office will remain vigilant in not tolerating the exploitation of women and illegal activity in the City of Sparks. I’d like to thank the HEAT team for their partnership with our office in helping close these illegal brothels and havens for illicit activity,” he said.
Illicit massage businesses often appear to operate as legitimate shops, but investigators say sexual acts are exchanged for money behind closed doors.
The industry is described as one of the most networked sex trafficking markets in the country and draws in vulnerable people who are promised opportunity, take on large debt to travel to the United States, then work and live at the businesses to repay that debt.
Investigators say many of these operations are part of organized crime networks that function locally and across state lines.
ORIGINAL STORY - OCTOBER 7:
The Sparks City Attorney’s Office, in a regional effort, is cracking down on massage parlors suspected of operating illegally, including involvement in prostitution and possible human trafficking.
City Attorney Wes Duncan says his office, working with the Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) team, has launched a targeted investigation focused on shutting down businesses that are violating the law.
“The day of illegal massage parlors operating within the City of Sparks is over, and the City Attorney’s office, in coordination with the Human Exploitation and Trafficking (HEAT) team, will lawfully revoke every license for businesses wherein illegal prostitution and suspected human trafficking occurs in our city,” Duncan said.
Shanghai Spa on Glendale Avenue is the first business to have its license revoked as part of the operation. The investigation, which took place between June and September, found that Shanghai Spa advertised sexual services on websites known for prostitution, according to city officials.
Authorities say the phone number tied to the business appeared in 237 separate ads on those sites, and that numerous sexually explicit online reviews described experiences by buyers who claimed to have paid for sexual acts at the location.
Detectives with the HEAT team also interviewed several men who admitted to purchasing sex at Shanghai Spa, the City Attorney’s Office said.
“We then did an investigation of the business and found people were coming in and out of the business at all times; they would be there for 15 or 20 minutes, which isn’t consistent with a 30 or 60 minute massage,” Duncan said in an interview. “When a female called, there were never any appointments; when a male would call, there would be appointments available.”
As a result of the license revocation and subsequent warning letter from the City Attorney’s Office, another business, Lotus Massage, has also closed, according to the HEAT team.
Duncan says the larger operation stems from growing concern this summer about the number of illegal massage parlors operating in Sparks and the surrounding area. He describes the industry as highly organized and part of a broader, multi-billion-dollar illegal network that often involves cross-state operations and suspected trafficking.
“We were concerned there was suspected human trafficking in these places,” Duncan said. “So the city’s attorney’s office and City of Sparks are always going to take a hard stance against women getting exploited and also illegal activity within our city.”
He said the team has already identified several other massage businesses in Sparks that are under review and warns that more closures are expected.
“I’m making it really clear, if you are running an illegal massage business, if you are exploiting women, if you are engaged in suspected human trafficking, your business will come to a close in the City of Sparks,” he said.
Duncan said women working in these establishments are often promised a better life in the U.S., but end up trapped in debt and forced to live and work in dehumanizing conditions.
“You have women who do not speak any English, most of them are coming from Asian countries, China in particular, and they are being sold what we call the ‘American dream,’” Duncan said. “They’re going to come over here and live a great life in America, and what they’re finding is they’re incurring a huge debt, they are having to live and work in these illegal massage parlors, up to 12 hours a day, every single day, where there are video cameras on them. It’s the most dehumanizing and demeaning existence you can imagine.”
Duncan is urging people to only seek massage services from licensed and reputable businesses and report any suspected illicit activity.
“If you’re in Reno, or the county, or the City of Sparks, you can also reach out to law enforcement,” he said. “People would be absolutely astounded if they knew the type of exploitation that’s happening behind closed doors in our community in this format.”
Anyone with information about suspected human trafficking or illegal massage businesses is encouraged to contact Secret Witness at (775) 322-4900.
A massage parlor in south Reno has been closed following an investigation by law enforcement revealing that the business allegedly solicited prostitution.
(Sparks City Attorney contributed to this report.)
