Massage Parlor Boss Convicted of Bribing Official, Detective

A massage parlor operator was convicted Friday of bribing a Newport Beach city official and a police vice detective to protect his prostitution business, an Orange County deputy district attorney said.

A jury convicted Chong Koo Lee, 44, on five counts of bribery of an executive officer, one count of soliciting perjury and one count of bribery of a police officer.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Christopher J. Evans said Lee could face a maximum sentence of six years in state prison and a $10,000 fine. Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 30 in Orange County Superior Court.

In November, Glen Everroad, Newport Beach business license director, told police he refused a bribe of $500 Lee had offered him to keep police from entering Lee’s two massage parlors.

Police and the district attorney’s office began an investigation, during which Everroad and Sgt. Richard Long met with Lee, who again offered money if they kept police away from his massage parlor in the 4500 block of Campus Drive and another he planned to open in the 500 block of Old Newport Boulevard.

The seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated 1 1/2 days after hearing a week’s worth of testimony and tape recordings from Lee’s meetings with Everroad and Long. Lee told the jury that he offered the money as gifts of friendship, not as bribes, and that he was entrapped, Evans said.

In total, Lee gave $7,000 to Long and $500 to Everroad and offered both of them future payments of $1,000 to $5,000 a month, depending on the financial success of his business, Evans said.

Lee is the former owner of Okinawa House, the largest Korean massage parlor in Southern California.