Acupressure Clinics Come Under Scrutiny : Many Offer Sex, Not Massage, Police Say

At first they went virtually unnoticed, blending into the landscape of Asian businesses sprouting up throughout the San Gabriel Valley. Like the Oriental shops and restaurants around them, acupressure clinics seemed to offer newly settled families a link with their homeland.

To local and county officials, the healing therapy called acupressure was as much a mystery as the Chinese letters adorning other Asian storefronts.

But officials now maintain that in many instances acupressure has become the latest buzzword meaning “sex for sale.”

“It’s just a new name for a very old profession,” said Lt. Joe Callanan of the Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department vice squad. “There are legitimate massage parlors and there are legitimate acupressure businesses,” he said, but many of the acupressure clinics, most of which have opened in the last five years are “just houses of prostitution.”

Areawide Crackdown

An areawide crackdown by the Sheriff’s Department and local police agencies has resulted in the closing of numerous acupressure businesses, some prostitution-related arrests and a push for ordinances aimed at preventing illegal activities. Sheriff’s Department spokesmen say there have been similar raids in cities throughout the county, and although no official statistics are available, several arrests also have been made in the downtown Los Angeles area, where there are large concentrations of Asian residents.

Both acupuncture and acupressure operate on the channel or meridian theory, in which imaginary lines outside the body are said to connect with organs.

An acupuncturist inserts needles through the skin along those lines to affect corresponding organs, while an acupressurist uses deep finger pressure at the same points.

Several Businesses Closed

In one of the largest sweeps, the San Gabriel Police Department in April raided and closed all seven acupressure clinics in that city, arresting 23 people on charges of prostitution.

In Alhambra, police closed down two acupressure businesses that same month, making five prostitution arrests.

And in June, Baldwin Park temporarily revoked the license of one acupressure clinic after arresting three employees on prostitution charges.

Local police have urged city officials to adopt ordinances that would strengthen licensing requirements, impose strict business practices and allow for routine inspections.

“If you’re going to have to deal with these things, the best way to deal with them is through the ordinances,” said Alhambra Police Chief Joseph Molloy.

Criminal Investigations

In the unincorporated areas of the county and in cities such as San Gabriel and Baldwin Park, the owners and operators of acupressure clinics have had to go undergo fingerprinting and background criminal investigations before they could get business licenses. Like owners of massage parlors, applicants cannot be licensed if they have been convicted of sex-related crimes during a specified time period.

Although there have never been any acupressure businesses in Temple City, officials there imposed a moratorium in March on such clinics until a specific ordinance governing their operation can be enacted.

The proposed ordinance has cleared its first reading and is being reviewed by the city attorney and the Sheriff’s Department. The legislation would govern hours of operation, lighting and the conduct of acupressurists.

Some of the proposed regulations are quite specific, governing such things as the labels on linen containers and the minimum dress requirements for employees and patrons--”non-transparent outer garments covering the body from knee to neck.”

After the review is completed, the City Council will reconsider the measure and take final action.

Reputations Damaged

In the scramble to clean up the cities, at least one legitimate practitioner said he has been forced out of business. The Alhambra acupressurist, Benjamin Ho, closed his 4-year-old business in June after the city began classifying the clinic as an adult business.

Under the new regulations, Ho, who had operated Ho’s Acupressure Clinic, would have had to move his office away from any residential area, stop treating children and restrict his working hours to remain in business.

After repeated meetings with city officials, the 34-year-old Ho closed his business, saying he could not survive under the new regulations.

In Diamond Bar, Pete Muenyong says his part-time job as an acupressurist is damaging his reputation.

For the last four years, Muenyong, 47, has been treating clients in their homes. But lately, Muenyong has become increasingly concerned about the number of acupressure clinics police say are really houses of prostitution. Although he used to be proud of his skill, Muenyong said he is reluctant to tell new acquaintances what he does in his spare time.

Confusion Abounds

“It gives true acupressure people a bad name,” Muenyong said. “They use the word acupressure and they don’t have any knowledge of it.”

Alhambra officials, like those in other cities, say their ignorance of the methods used in acupressure contributed to the confusion regarding the classification, licensing and inspection of clinics.

“Acupressure is something new,” said Alhambra City Manager Kevin Murphy. “Our staff was not familiar with what was involved with acupressure.”

That confusion stems partially from the fact that acupuncture and its companion therapies, such as acupressure, are still relatively new to the United States and are not generally accepted by the medical establishment.

The American Medical Assn. classifies acupuncture as “an experimental medical procedure . . . that should be performed in a research setting by a licensed physician or under his direct supervision and responsibility,” according to a 1974 policy statement that was reaffirmed in 1981.

Acupressure, also called shiatsu or shiatzu, dates back more than 4,000 years to when acupuncture was first developed in China.

“The principle (of acupuncture and acupressure) is basically the same,” said Dr. Simin Afifi, a clinical instructor and researcher at UCLA’s Pain Management Center. “With acupressure there is pressure applied on the acupuncture points.”

UCLA routinely experiments with both methods in studying ways to reduce stress and relieve chronic pain in patients who have been unresponsive to traditional treatments, such as medication or surgery, Afifi said.

Acupuncture is more effective for an organ dysfunction, Afifi said, but she suggested acupressure to treat tension, headaches and any muscular-skeletal problems. Acupressure also is an option for patients, such as children, who might be afraid of needles, she said.

Afifi suggested that anyone seeking acupressure treatment seek out a licensed acupuncturist who also performs acupressure.

Acupuncturists must pass a state examination before receiving a license. In most cities and in unincorporated areas in the county, practitioners must obtain a massage technician license, which allows them to work.

Police and city officials believe that owners and operators of some acupressure clinics took advantage of the practice’s novelty in the United States. They say that some owners intentionally supplied officials with misleading information so that their businesses would be classified as medical establishments rather than massage parlors, which are subject to more intense scrutiny.

Indeed, the advertisements for some clinics run side by side with those for massage parlors in some local Chinese-language newspapers, and feature partially nude or scantily clad women.

An ad for the Oriental Shiatsu Center in Baldwin Park promises “numerous beautiful women” and “quiet and elegant” surroundings.

The ad, in recent issues of the Centre Daily News, a Chinese-language paper published in Monterey Park, also features a profile photograph of a bare-shouldered Asian woman.

Police closed the Baldwin Park business last month after an investigation led to the arrest of three women on prostitution charges. The business reopened a week later because no charges were filed against the owner, Police Chief Richard Hoskin said.

“There was no evidence that the owner had knowledge of the prostitution,” Hoskin said, and that is why the business is still operating.

“We may feel that (the owner did have knowledge) . . . but we can’t prove it, so that’s why the business is still operating.”

Hoskin said the Police Department will continue its undercover investigations.

The inquiry into the Baldwin Park business began after police received anonymous complaints from neighboring businesses and dissatisfied customers, Hoskins said. Police made the arrests after Detective John Aquino, posing as a customer, was solicited by one of the employees, he said.

The clinic’s manager refused to speak with The Times or allow photographs to be taken inside the office.

San Gabriel Police Chief Donald Tutich said investigations in his city were difficult because most of the owners, employees and customers are Asian. Officers from Monterey Park’s Asian Task Force, familiar with the culture and language, helped with the undercover work and the interrogation of suspects.

Capt. Joe Santoro of Monterey Park credited his city’s task force with helping to prevent illegal acupressure operations from opening there. During the last year, he said, the task force also has assisted with acupressure investigations in Rosemead and Alhambra.

Meanwhile, legitimate acupressurists such as Ho and Muenyong are fighting acupressure’s tarnished image and trying to find a niche within the system.

“How can I fight them? I have no power,” said Ho, who speaks little English.

Both police and city officials said no complaints had ever been filed against Muenyong or Ho, who operated a one-man clinic from an office on South Garfield Avenue.

Owner Defended

Ho referred questions to two friends who had accompanied him to meetings with officials, saying he did not fully understand the city’s reasoning.

He is considering opening an office in a nearby city, but he and his wife and two daughters may return to Taiwan, which he left about five years ago.

“I feel very, very angry,” said Raymond F. Wu, a Torrance immigration lawyer who is a friend of Ho and gave him legal advice.

“It is unfair to generalize that all acupressure clinics are secretly engaging in sexual activity,” he said. “The city should be more humane and sensitive.”

Jeff Gold, an investment manager in Los Angeles who began as a patient of Ho about five years ago, also tried unsuccessfully to persuade city officials to exclude Ho from the new regulations.

“This guy has a practice that’s medical in character,” Gold said. “It’s in a medical building; he’s medically trained.

“If a bookstore turned out to be a house of prostitution, you wouldn’t force all bookstores to move into a red-light district.”

Muenyong, a computer engineer at Motorola in Tustin, says he was trained and licensed at the Tao Healing Center in Santa Monica.

Muenyong says he sees about 10 patients a week who make regular appointments to maintain their health or because they like how they feel after the treatment.

“I don’t think I could do without it,” said Dolores Fontes, a Diamond Bar homemaker. “When you finish, you just feel good all over.”

She sought relief from chronic lower back pain she had suffered for about 20 years. She had only five treatments but has not needed to go back for eight months because, she said, the pain is almost gone.

Muenyong said the problem with illegal acupressure clinics could be avoided if cities require a restrictive license for acupressurists but do not lump them with massage parlors.

“Once you make it difficult to get the license,” Muenyong said, “these people would have to call themselves something else.”