CBS take on Inglewood busts...
[url]http://cbs2.com/topstories/local_story_103002959.html[/url]
Bail Set For Santa Ana Alleged Brothel Operator
(CBS) SANTA ANA A magistrate in Santa Ana set bail at $100,000 Wednesday for a man, 51, arrested for his alleged role in the operation of brothels where women worked as prostitutes to pay off smuggling fees.
Randall Johnson of Los Angeles was named in a 40-count grand jury indictment, along with alleged brothel operator Jong Ock Mao, 47, of West Covina, Edward Lutt, 43, of Paramount, and Charles Fields, 49, of Long Beach, who remains a fugitive, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Carmen Luege.
Johnson and Lutt, who was in court Tuesday, were ordered to appear Monday for arraignment in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, Luege said.
Mao was arrested in Madisonville, Texas, Tuesday and appeared Wednesday in a Houston courtroom, where her bail was set at $150,000, Luege said.
It was not known if she would be returned to California by Monday to appear for arraignment, Luege said.
Search warrants were served Tuesday at eight Los Angeles-area locations, including three suspected brothels in Baldwin Park, Inglewood and South Gate, and three homes, including those of Mao and Lutt and the Canyon Country residence of Mao's bookkeeper, Virginia Kice of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
ICE agents in Dallas searched a suspected brothel known as the Paradise Spa, where four women were taken into custody, Kice said. Two were booked on state prostitution charges, and the other two were being held on administrative immigration violations, she said.
Charges against Mao, Lutt, Fields and Johnson include conspiracy, money laundering and using the mails to set up an illegal business, such as sending applications for licenses to Sacramento and Dallas, Kice said.
According to search warrant affidavits, the three men filed business licenses to operate massage parlors and tanning salons in Southern California and Dallas that served as fronts for brothels operated by Mao.
The indictment was an offshoot of an ongoing investigation that initially targeted the Jung Organization, which smuggled South Korean women into the United States and turned them over to brothel operators to work off fees as high as $15,000, Luege said.
Fifteen of the two-dozen people charged in that case, including Young Joon Jung, have pleaded guilty. Five are awaiting trial and four remain at large, Luege said.
The four people charged in the latest indictment, which was returned by a grand jury on April 5 and unsealed Tuesday, do not face smuggling charges.
"They are the end users of the smuggling chain," said supervising ICE Agent Buckley Thomas. "They were not the people responsible for smuggling." Dozens of women were caught up in the operations, Thomas said.
Most of the women knew they were coming to the United States to work as prostitutes and did so willingly, but investigators will try to determine if any of them were victimized in other ways, such as being held against their will, Kice said.
They will be interviewed for a decision on whether they should be prosecuted or deported, Kice said.
Federal agents are looking to seize more than $4 million in assets tied to the alleged criminal scheme, including bank accounts, residences and four private motocross tracks in California, Texas and Florida. The tracks are operated by a company Mao owns called MX Oasis.
Who have the most to gain?
Probably not the mongers, but more likely the MP owners and the girls themselves.
The MP owners are loaded with money. The issue of legalization of prostitution should be financed and pursued by them, in cooperation with the organzations such as the Association of Prostitutes in San Francisco. The association only has to give out free 'samples' to the dumb politicians cum hypocrites in liberal cities such as San Francisco to have 'don't ask, don't tell' law enforcement policy involving discreet prostitution. It can be done by relaxing local zoning and licensing regulations and the grips of law enforcement. When this kind of leniency is practiced and found to offer more solutions than problems, then it would be easier to change local laws.
The people with the most to lose in the present system are children, who due to the high demands and large paybacks in illegal prostitution, are being lured into the service by pimps at the rate of hundred thousands per year according to latest investigations. They are known to be abused in the worst ways and hooked with life-destroying addictions. Perhaps children organizations should start preventing the problems of child prostitution with different tacks rather than spending all their resources in trying to rescue them off the streets when it is already too late.
Believe it or not, the recent busts of MP nationally and the war in Iraq are directed by the same group of neocons in the White House and Congress. The same crack downs on street prostitution nationally was started by neocons behind the late Ronald Reagan in 1985. The local porkies are too stupid and lazy, there was no other way all major US cities would start cracking down on street prostitution at the same time, except with federal money and threats behind it.
At this rate, sex will soon be illegal even in the private homes in the US, and only politicians are allowed to fuck around. Well, figuratively the pol's have been fucking everyone in the country for the benefits of big oil interests with this nonsense and costly war in Iraq. The government they prop up in Iraq may turn out to be far more brutal than Sadam Hussein's. It was the US that installed Sadam Hussein in power 20 years ago in the first place. This war is just a misguided and wasteful attempt by our naive leaders to impose Christian beliefs and values on Muslim peoples, at the same time exploiting their natural resources for wealthy Americans who own large shares in big oil companies.
Bill Clinton won the war in Kosovo with international cooperation and financing, at the same time delivering phenomenal growth to the US economy. He also knew how to have some fun with willing and legal babes. He's the kind of leader the US needs, not the stuck up neocons who think they can convert Muslim countries to Christianity.
The neocons were out trying to nail Bill and Hillary with every little shit they got, starting with prosecution of the land sales in Arkansas, then the little escapades with Monica Lewinski. Hell, if discreet prostitution were available and tolerated, the president of the US would not have lost his dignity with a fat slutt like Monica.
Special interests are very powerful in the US. They play some very rough games behind the scene that require big money and even bigger balls. It's time mongers and providers should unite for our special interest.
[QUOTE=flip_dog]If I were ten years younger, and single and in school like I was when I started this interesting hobby, I would be 100% stand up and fight. But lots of mongers here have professional and social situations where this kind of behavior cannot be publicly acknowledged or it could result in other kinds of loss.
In an ideal world we would all stand up, but on the monger side of the equation some of us can be more visible than others and that weakens the response.[/QUOTE]
Investigation motivations... Inglewood busts
The most recent closures (LP, LE, ...) and last years closure of OA would appear to be the biggest hits in years. I'd be interested to see if any of the recent 40 count indictment by the feds had anything to do with prostitution. These were very popular places, yet their downfall didn't appear to be a direct investigation of their alleged prostitution practices.
If you're to believe the IRS press release, these most recent closures were an outgrowth of a smuggling investigation.
OA's closure last year was spurred by an investigation by some CA state agency that oversees the training of masseuses. Apparently, some of the workers at OA had obtained their documentation (permits?) improperly.
The only other major closure of recent memory would by Hou's in Southgate (the Costco of MPs). I don't recall what motivated that closure. But I seem to recall some local city official scandal going on at the same time.
Republican or democrat or libertarian...
Sad to say Bush has the Lowest Poll Numbers in the last hundred years?
Bush is a loser, he sucks big oils dick at Americas expense, and by his own words he started a fight with a guy who his daddy couldn't beat.
God Bless Our Troops, but fuck Iraq is a joke, it is a no win situation.
Interest rates rising.
Iraq out of control.
US Threating NUCLEAR WAR ON Iran
Censorship out of control.
Inflation Rising.
Oil at 70+ a barrel.
Abortion Outlawed
[b]Gasoline to $3.50+ this year.[/b]
Who Wins? Halliburton and Oil Companies, Which I own since Katrina.
For fucks sake Abortion Is Illegal in some states even in Rape and Incest cases, No right to die under this administration,
What's next Blacks in Slavery ? No Voting for women?
Let's fucking dig for Oil in Alaska for fucks sake at least we can ease one problem. [b]Fuck the 10 Eskimos & 12 sea otters ! ! ![/b]
:eek: sarcasm still legal this Week.....
[QUOTE=PlaneGuy] because as US citizens, we have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We also have the right of privacy....[/QUOTE]
So Sorry to Inform you PlaneGuy, Only those Whom have enough $, and pray to the same imaginary person in the sky have the right under this adminstration to Pursue any happiness, We are no longer entilted to liberty Unless it is Under god, and the patriot act along with the Presidents executive orders have Eliminated any right to privacy, I would bore you with cases filed seeking relief for people who have been IN JAIL and NOT Charged with any crime because they have been deemed a Political risk, AKA Terrorist. The 100's of thousands of ILLegal phone taps, but why, this administration is wacko, & I for one am in no hurry to ruffle any feathers, I don't want to end up on some Bullshit Watch List. I will stick to Ho Hunting.
Welcome to america Home of the christian right wing Land of the Lost.
Next Election Republicans get wiped out. My Observation.
