The owner of four brothels allegedly disguised as skin care spas in Ventura and Orange counties has been arrested and charged, officials said.
The 45-year-old owner was arrested at her home in Yorba Linda and charged last week on suspicion of nine counts of pimping, pandering and money laundering, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office and the court docket. She pleaded not guilty to the crimes, all of them listed as felonies.
She is being held in county jail in lieu of $100,000 bail and is due to appear at a preliminary hearing Dec. 2 in Ventura County Superior Court.
Sheriff’s officials said the two local businesses were in the Thousand Oaks area: Swan Spa in the 100 block of North Rancho Road and the Star Spa in the 400 block of North Ventu Park Road. The ones in Orange County were identified as the Victoria and Four Seasons spas, both in Lake Forest.
None of them was offering legitimate skin care services, sheriff’s Detective Nan Jiang said Wednesday.
Jiang said the number of customers at each location ran into the double digits daily. Detectives positively identified multiple male individuals suspected of purchasing commercial sex but none was arrested because it would have compromised the investigation, he said.
Jiang said 10 employees of the brothels were identified, all of them adults, but that he could not disclose how much money was being collected at the businesses. The employees were offered victim assistance by the Interface Children & Family Services agency, he said.
The agencies involved in the enforcement operation were identified as the FBI, numerous units of the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office, the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, the Ventura County Human Trafficking Task Force and code enforcement officials in Thousand Oaks.
Kathleen Wilson covers courts, mental health and local government issues for the Ventura County Star. Reach her at kathleen.wilson@vcstar.com or 805-437-0271.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Brothels allegedly operated as skin care spas in Thousand Oaks
