Fullerton Sets Crackdown on Illicit Massage Parlors

Fullerton Mayor F. Richard Jones got a shock last month on opening an alternative weekly newspaper. He saw ads for massage parlors--15 of them in his city alone.

This was not the image he wanted for Fullerton. “We want to have a clean, healthy city,” he said.

Jones is echoing the growing concerns of other City Council members, police officials and business owners in Fullerton who have seen a sharp rise over the last two years in the number of massage parlors.

Often used as fronts for prostitution, the businesses have multiplied in the city as a result of stricter laws in neighboring communities, officials believe. Since 1997, for example, Costa Mesa, Orange, Fountain Valley and Anaheim have adopted tougher standards.

Fullerton city officials are preparing stricter municipal codes of their own in hopes of forcing illegitimate operations out of town.

The number of massage parlors has jumped from 12 to 27 in the last two years, officials say. “We are seeing a dramatic increase,” said Fullerton Police Sgt. Joe Klein. “They tend to open up in cities that allow them to easily operate.”

Though the effort to toughen local laws is new, Fullerton police took steps last year with a string of undercover arrests. Owners and employees of four massage parlors were charged with 130 criminal violations of the city’s municipal code, Klein said.

The charges ranged from building code violations, such as lack of ventilation, to improper touching of clients by masseuses, he said.

Thirty masseuses were arrested on suspicion of soliciting prostitution while employed by parlors on North Associated Road, East Commonwealth Avenue, East Imperial Highway and South Brookhurst Road.

One of the four businesses has closed, and owners of two others face business license revocation hearings.

Song S. Kim, the owner of the fourth business, has agreed to close her business, Harbor Acupressure, on July 31 in exchange for dismissal of 31 charges filed against her, said Gregory P. Palmer of the city attorney’s office.

Legitimate Operators, Neighbors Annoyed

Among business owners most worried about illegal activity are those who run legitimate massage operations.

“I want massage to stay an honorable profession,” said Katrina Hill, owner of Bodycentre, a company that operates in Fullerton, Buena Park and Redondo Beach, primarily through chiropractor offices.

Others upset with the problem are neighboring businesses that don’t welcome the unsavory trade that illegal operations attract.

Bridgette Daller, who owns a Mail Boxes Etc. branch on East Orangethorpe Avenue, said she has complained several times to police about suspected illegal activities at nearby massage parlors. “It’s like a little red light district,” she said.

For the most part, Palmer said, illegal massage parlors keep a low profile. Their owners typically work and live in other cities, and, he said, shutting them down is difficult unless police have evidence of specific code violations.

The city attorney will present proposed city code changes to the City Council on May 16.

One proposal is stricter requirements for massage technician licenses, Palmer said. A proposed ordinance increases the hours of training required from 300 to 500. And masseuses would have to take written and practical exams.

The ultimate effect, Jones says, will be a law to keep prostitutes and their fronts out of Fullerton while allowing legitimate massage to thrive.

“We will be able to make sure that those agents that advertise massage are doing legitimate massage,” he said.