4 Massage Salons Told to Prohibit Prostitution

Owners of four midcity massage parlors were ordered Thursday to prohibit prostitution at their establishments and to make their financial records available to San Diego officials, who want to close the parlors under a little-used state law.

Superior Court Judge Richard D. Huffman signed a temporary restraining order preventing the removal of the financial records and other business property from the four parlors--Yokahama Spa, 5506 University Ave.; Suzie Wong Massage, 4715 University Ave.; Hong Kong Spa, 3258 El Cajon Blvd., and China Doll Oriental Massage, 3671 Fairmount Ave.

The order also requires owners of the parlors to post large signs and to hand out individual warnings to customers that no acts of prostitution will be performed on the premises.

Huffman’s temporary order is in effect until a hearing Aug. 28 to decide whether the businesses should be closed for one year and the city allowed to sell the furniture, fixtures and other movable property, said Joseph M. Schilling, the deputy city attorney who signed a civil complaint against the parlor owners.

Undercover officers posing as customers said they were solicited for prostitution 12 to 15 times at each of the four parlors since November, Schilling said.

The offers were made under the guise of so-called “full-body massages,” which reportedly included masturbation for pay, he said.

State Statute

But rather than arrest the women, the city decided to go after the owners under a rarely used state law for “red light abatement,” which allows a judge to shut the business and order the sale of all furniture and equipment. The city filed several cases under the ordinance in the 1970s but eventually dropped the cases, he said.

“It’s an ineffective technique to bring officers in and arrest the masseuses when you know there is some kind of implicit or indirect approval from the property owner or the business operator,” Schilling said.

“Our goal is to start from the top, and if we can shut down the businesses, we don’t have to worry about the individual massage technicians at this time,” he said.

The declarations filed in Huffman’s court Thursday included a speech by U.S. Surgeon Gen. C. Everett Koop about AIDS, as well a report about AIDS found in prostitutes.

Schilling said this information was included to emphasize the sociological benefits of shutting prostitution centers.

While the city attorney’s office was filing its case with Huffman, police officers raided the four massage parlors and began taking inventory of their property and business records, Schilling said. The parlors will continue to be open for legitimate business pending the Aug. 28 hearing.

The owners were identified by the city attorney’s office as Sung Ae Hong, Yokahama Spa; Yong Chol Starr, Suzie Wong Massage; Kang Sun Ho, Hong Kong Spa, and Kang Ho Yi, China Doll Massage.

James Pasto, an attorney who represented three of the four owners in other legal action, said he couldn’t comment about the civil suit because he hasn’t been formally retained by the owners in this case.