John L. Geddie
Friday, 14 May 2010
Two weeks after the raid of Sterling's Green Therapy, sheriff’s deputies revoked the business licenses of two more “massage therapy” operations in Loudoun suspected of offering sexual services.
On May 11, the Vice-Narcotics Unit revoked the business license of Aroma Therapy Massage, located on Glenn Drive in Sterling Park. Seung J. Oh, 38, of New York, was charged with performing a massage without a license.
The following day, Sin Suk Cho, 47, of Pennsylvania, was charged under Loudoun County Ordinance 820.06 for “willfully placing a hand or hands upon, touch with any part of the body, fondle in any manner or massage a sexual or genital part of any other person.” This incident allegedly occurred at Massage Therapy, located at the 47020 block of Harry Byrd Highway in Sterling.
Neither Oh or Cho are currently in custody because these charges are in violation of a Loudoun County ordinance regulating massage instead of a criminal statute under state or federal law.
This investigation follows the April 27 raid of Green Therapy in Cascades, near Northern Virginia Community College. The raid resulted in the arrest of three employees and four clients.
The problem of sexual acts occurring in massage parlors extends throughout the region. There may be more than 70 massage parlors offering sex services in Northern Virginia. That was the report from the Polaris Project, as announced by U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (R-10th) to members of the Loudoun Crime Commission on May 14.
“Everyone in this room drives by one of these one or two times a week,” Wolf told the assembled organization, many of whom serve in law enforcement themselves.
The Polaris Project, a Washington-based non-profit organization combating the different forms of human trafficking and modern-slavery, identified 77 massage parlors by cross referencing their business information against references and advertising on Craigslist and the USA Sex Guide.
Loudoun Sheriff Steve Simpson, having been briefed on the list as well, told the Independent that at least five of these businesses were located in Loudoun County, including the three shut down by the Sheriff’s Office in the last several weeks.
Simpson highlighted the difficulty in eradicating the activity. “We put the pressure on, they disappear,” said Simpson, but “getting enough to make an arrest is very difficult…They know how to work the system.”
Simpson also cautioned that this type of business also tends to re-open months after the arrest under a different name and with different owners—but offering the same type of services.
“It’s probably organized crime,” said Simpson.
Simpson hopes to work more closely with local business owners and management companies to deter this type of sex trafficking, informing them of the type of renters who may be conducting illegal activity in a commercial setting.
Perhaps more disturbing than local sex trafficking is the probability that many of the sex workers at these establishments are there unwillingly and that human trafficking is a much larger problem for Northern Virginia than once thought.
Wolf, largely credited for his part in the establishment of the Northern Virginia Regional Gang Task Force, also announced his own attention to push for another multi-jurisdictional law enforcement agency to stop human trafficking in the region.
According to a report from the Polaris Project, there are four types of human trafficking that already exist in Virginia:
1) Domestic Servitude - Domestic workers exploited using the threat of force, fraud or coercion.
2) Asian Commercial-Front Brothels - Sexual services performed at a business operating under the guise of a “massage parlor” or other business storefront. Polaris describes this type of establishment as forcing women into sexual trafficking through “debt bondage, isolation and other manipulation to keep women indoors at all times, unable to escape…”
3) Residential Brothel - Described by Polaris as largely Latino, these are townhouses or apartments functioning as traditional underground brothels.
4) Domestic Sex Traffickers - The more stereotypical arrangement where women or children are lured into the sex industry using violence or threats. Polaris described hotel-based escort services as the most common form of domestic sex trafficking.
While many of the women enslaved by human trafficking are from foreign countries, Wolf also shared data indicating that a large number of American children are also at risk. While surprising to many in suburban Northern Virginia, Wolf repeatedly reiterated that this problem is “growing dramatically in our area.”
“If we’re going to deal with Thailand, we’re going to have to deal with Tysons,” said Wolf, who seemed visibly angry when mentioning the ordeal of a 14-year-old Reston girl who was saved from human trafficking.
Wolf announced his intent to encourage all local officials to begin further investigation into human investigation. Additionally, he will be asking local religious organizations to begin providing temporary housing for those rescued from human trafficking.
The Loudoun Sheriff’s Office has not confirmed whether the three massage parlors recently investigated are suspected of human trafficking in addition to sex trafficking. This facet is part of the ongoing investigation, according to Sheriff’s Office spokesman Kraig Troxell.
Two More Loudoun Massage Parlors Closed but Problem of Human Trafficking Looms Over Region | Loudoun Independent
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