Sarah Baumgardner is the Western Virginia Water Authority’s director of public relations.
Sarah Baumgardner is the Western Virginia Water Authority’s director of public relations.
Crime-courts
MASSAGE PARLORS
13 charged in investigation of Roanoke County massage parlors
Officers stand outside the Sunny Spa Massage on Brambleton Avenue while search warrants are executed.
Ten women from New York and one from Texas have been charged with maintaining a bawdy place — in this case, eight Roanoke County businesses that police say offered illicit massages to their customers.
The arrests were made Monday during raids of the massage parlors.
Ranging in age from 35 to 62, the women were being held without bond on misdemeanor charges that define a bawdy place as anywhere within or outside of a building that is used for “lewdness, assignation or prostitution.”
Details of exactly what happened in the businesses — located on Brambleton Avenue, Williamson Road, Peters Creek Road and Electric Road — were scarce.
But in a similar investigation last month in Botetourt County, investigators obtained search warrants that describe at length what an undercover officer encountered when he entered Orchid Massage, off U.S. 460 north of Bonsack.
On Sept. 2, the officer made arrangements to pay $50 for a 30-minute massage and was taken to a back room by an Asian woman, according to the warrant. At the end of the massage, the woman made a hand motion indicating that she would perform a sexual favor.
Asked how much it could cost, the woman replied “six fifty” — apparently meaning $650. The officer — who had recorded the conversation — declined the proposition, gave a $30 tip, and left without filing charges.
The next day, police showed up at the massage parlor with a search warrant that sought business records, cash, electronic devices and other items used during prostitution or maintaining a bawdy place.
While the search was underway, a woman who identified herself as the owner of Orchid Massage showed up and told police that she knew what the masseuse was doing, but “that was between her and her customers,” the search warrant states.
Authorities seized the woman’s cellphone, which she admitted having used the previous day to set up the meeting.
Botetourt County sheriff’s deputies later contacted the Roanoke Police Department and were told the woman is currently being investigated by federal authorities for alleged racketeering involving other businesses similar to Orchid Massage, according to the warrant.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Roanoke could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
And it was not clear — an official with the Botetourt sheriff’s office also could not be reached — if the investigation was connected to the one in Roanoke County, which also involved search warrants executed at massage parlors.
Both investigations deal with Asian women, who frequently work at massage parlors and in some cases are under the control of their employers.
It is not unusual for such operations to involve human trafficking. In a racketeering case that originated in Floyd County, Commonwealth’s Attorney Eric Branscom has said that many of the woman who worked as prostitutes at a Roanoke bridal shop were threatened, and some were coerced to participate in exchange for drugs they needed to support their addictions.
The Botetourt investigation began in August, when sheriff’s deputies were notified by an anonymous party of possible prostitution at Orchid Massage.
In researching the business, an officer found a website that displayed photographs of Asian women posing in sexually provocative clothing, next to a phone number for the business and the words “Hot Girls.”
On Monday, as teams of police officers began to raid the massage parlors in Roanoke County, Botetourt County sheriff’s deputies assisted in serving a related search warrant on a home in Ashley Plantation, a development of high-end houses in Daleville.
A man who answered the door at the house declined to comment Tuesday.
Search warrants used in this week’s law enforcement operation were not available at the Roanoke County and Botetourt courthouses. Police say the case remains under investigation, and it is not uncommon for search warrants to be sealed in such cases.
According to a news release, Roanoke County police seized three vehicles and more than $44,000 in cash during the raids.
Police identified the following businesses that were raided: Amazing Body Works in the 3200 block of Brambleton, Angel Massage in the 3100 block of Brambleton, Best Spa in the 6400 block of Williamson, YJN in the 2100 block of Electric, Red Apple Asian Massage in the 8200 block of Williamson, Relaxing Choice Spa in the 5300 block of Peters Creek, Summer Body Work in the 7300 block of Williamson, and Sunny Spa Massage in the 3600 block of Brambleton.
Two men who are alleged to be customers at the massage parlors were arrested and released on summons to appear in court. Danny Deboard, 70, of Botetourt County, and Oliver Baugess, 56, of Roanoke, were charged with frequenting a bawdy place.
Laurence Hammack (540) 981-3239
