Same red flags: Long hours, male clientele “Nearly every city in central Iowa has since drafted and/or adopted an ordinance that allows local law enforcement to investigate these businesses, using licensing requirements based on local ordinance to ensure compliance and as a means of effectively investigating the underlying, previously mentioned criminal implications,” Wingert wrote. Attorney’s Office, have all agreed to commit resources to aid in the investigation and prosecution of criminal violations at “rogue establishments.” In a statement sent to Watchdog, Chief Wingert said metro law enforcement, as well as the Polk County Attorney’s Office and the U.S. “The nature of these cases, particularly the unique circumstances and dangers presented to the victims, requires confidentiality,” Sgt. This month, a police spokesman said the department cannot talk about any ongoing investigations. Support reporters who bring you news that matters. Wingert said enforcement would come through compliance checks or public complaints. In December, Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said publicly that local police would begin doing more to shut down operators who lacked valid state licenses. The cities of Urbandale and Johnston have managed to shut down nearly all illicit massage parlors in their jurisdictions using local ordinances similar to others passed around the state in the past two years. That’s more than when the capital city was listed as one of the top 100 human trafficking sites in the country in 2016 by the Polaris Project, which runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Watch Video: Asian massage parlors booming in Iowa Des Moines police promise more attentionĪt least 13 Asian massage or reflexology parlors, most cash-only businesses, are advertising in Des Moines, Watchdog found. The alleged victims were prostituted up to 20 hours a day, and their movements were restricted and monitored by those in charge of the criminal operations, police said.īut such investigations take considerable resources and time: The Seattle operation was three and a half years in the making, police said. The women told police they replied to what they thought were legal advertisements, but found they were false when they got to the United States. In another large bust that resulted in 26 women being freed from trafficking in Seattle, investigators found the women had come from China with the hope of making money to support their families overseas. The Metropolitan Bureau of Investigation, one of the law enforcement agencies involved, said in the warrant application that central Florida has seen an increase in "Asian themed massage parlors," which were "typically fronts for prostitution and money laundering" that "pose a health risk to the general public for the spread of sexually transmitted diseases." 19 that led to the shutdown of 10 parlors and the arrest of billionaire Robert Kraft in Florida, investigations found, as others have, that the women involved were rotated between different locations. In the past two months, stings at massage parlors in Florida and Washington have yielded dozens of arrests tied to suspected sex trafficking operations. Those arrests yielded the most convictions in sex trafficking by federal prosecutors in Iowa’s southern district.īut no major arrests for sex trafficking, racketeering, prostitution or money laundering have happened related to illicit massage parlors in Iowa's capital city. In the past year, Des Moines police made major arrests of sex traffickers - including seven people indicted last summer in a ring that included 26 victims. Over the past six years, neighbors, licensed massage therapists and businesses around the city have raised concerns with Des Moines leaders about the city’s growing illicit massage industry. One of the women, when questioned about her actions, said “only massage” while touching the man’s genitals. PART 2: Care about human trafficking? This Urbandale man did something about it PART 1: Iowa is a hot spot for trafficking in the illicit massage industry, but prosecutions are rare But the men said each woman made clear one was in the offing. In each tape-recorded interaction, the masseuse did not ask explicitly if the man wanted her to perform a sex act. Toward the end of each massage, without forewarning, the women performing the massage touched or tickled the male customers in a sexual manner at or near their genitals. In all three instances, the men were asked to pay $60 for a massage, plus tip. Watchdog sent two men this month into three Des Moines massage parlors, choosing locations that have been the subject of numerous reviews on a website in which paid subscribers compare erotic massage and “happy endings.” The other: “Tips!!! Appreciated! Thank you!” One says: “We do not provide any kind of sexual service!!!!”
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