Anaheim : Police Raid Suspected Prostitution Operation

Two people were in custody Monday after police broke up a suspected prostitution service that apparently catered to Asians, authorities said.

Police raided the Rose Body Care Salon in the 400 block of South Brookhurst Street on Friday after a four-month investigation prompted by tips from suspicious local business owners, according to Police Lt. John Flanagan.

“You couldn’t see what was going on. . . . That’s what caught the attention of people. They thought something peculiar was going on,” Flanagan said.

“There were males going in all the time and the only females that went in were the ones who worked there,” he said.

Salon owners Soon Cheol No, 34, and his wife, Young Ja Kim, 34, both of Garden Grove, were arrested on suspicion of pimping and pandering, Flanagan said. They were being held in the city jail in lieu of $25,000 bail each.

Also arrested were Tomicha Gibson of Garden Grove, who was booked on suspicion of prostitution, and Sun Pun Taylor of Santa Ana, who was booked on suspicion of giving false information to officers. Gibson and Taylor were released after posting bail of $1,000 and $500, respectively, Flanagan said.

After No and his wife were taken into custody, nine men were arrested on suspicion of soliciting prostitutes by Asian police officers posing as the salon’s owners, Flanagan said. The men were arrested after “it was clear that they were there to receive sex for money,” he said. The nine, all of whom were of Asian descent, were cited and released, he said.

The salon had been operating since mid-1986 and “catered strictly to Asians only.” Flanagan said.

“(The owners) would feign that they couldn’t speak English. They wouldn’t open the door if you were Caucasian,” Flanagan said.