LAPD Raids Massage Parlor, Cites Employee For Soliciting 'Money For Sex'

Los Angeles Police Department officers raided a massage parlor in Eagle Rock Tuesday and issued a misdemeanor citation to one employee there for soliciting an undercover officer "to exchange money for sex."

The LAPD officers raided Rose Garden Spa, located at 4777 Eagle Rock Blvd., at around 11:30 a.m., according to Eagle Rock Chamber of Commerce President Michael Nogueira, who owns a store, Sir Michael's Party Rentals, directly next door to the massage parlor.

Nogueira told Eagle Rock Patch that he saw undercover officers alight from an unmarked Chevy Astro van, with tinted windows, outside his shop and enter the massage parlor. One of the officers told Nogueira they were with the LAPD's Hollenbeck station and that they were helping their vice unit counterparts in the Northeast Division with investigations of massage parlors in the Eagle Rock and Highland Park area.

According to the Rose Garden Spa employee who was cited, an undercover officer paid $40 for a 30-minute massage. About 10 minutes into the massage, she told Eagle Rock Patch, the officer asked her a question. "He say, you do something—you do mouth, hand job?" the employee said in broken English. "I says, no—shhh—that's not good. You need help? You have 20 minutes more."

The officer then said that he had to got back to work and that he would return at 8 p.m., according to the employee. "I said, it's up to you—[take it] easy, relax, and if you have time, come back—the last appointment is at 8 o'clock," she said.

"He said, Okay, I'm done, and then cops come and knock on the door," she told Patch.

The LAPD raid occurred about a week or 10 days after Eagle Rock's latest massage parlor opened in a mini-mall on 1916 W. Colorado Blvd. The storefront has no visible name so far (see photo).

The employee, who asked that her name not be used, said she had been working either full time or part time at the massage parlor for about the past four months. She said this was the first time she had been cited and that at the time of the LAPD raid, there was one other (female) masseuse in the parlor with her. 

According to the citation, the employee is required to appear in a court on Civic Way downtown on Aug. 20.

Clearly visible on the mantle piece in the massage parlor were four certificates issued by the California Massage Therapy Council. The name and age of the employee who was cited was on one of the certificates, which was issued July 31, 2012 in Sacramento and valid until July 31, 2014.

At the board meeting of the Eagle Rock Neighborhood Council in June, LAPD Senior Lead Officer Nina Preciado said in her monthly crime update that Northeast LAPD vice unit officers had investigated as many as 10 massage parlors in Eagle Rock. Four women at the businesses were arrested for prostitution, while two others were arrested for running massage parlors without a state massage therapy license.

Related: 

• An Afternoon With the LAPD's Vice Squad (Part I)

• An Afternoon With the LAPD's Vice Squad (Part II)