The Cupertino Courier
News
Task force brings down Cupertino prostitution operation
By HUGH BIGGAR
A police task force broke up a prostitution ring in Paciifica on Nov. 21 in an operation that also targeted prostitution in Cupertino and several Peninsula cities.
Law enforcement officials arrested Tommy Chou, 29, of Colorado and Ri Luo, 41, of Oakland on charges of felony pimping, pandering and criminal conspiracy.
The men are suspected of operating brothels in Cupertino, Pacifica, Foster City, San Bruno, South San Francisco and Denver.
Law enforcement officials from those cities as well as the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, which polices Cupertino, and the Department of Immigration and Customs Enforcement took part in the task force investigating the prostitution ring.
"It's more common than people in the community suspect," said commander John Hirokawa, who formerly supervised the sheriff's department vice unit.
Rick Kitson, a spokesman for Cupertino, said the city's ordinance on massage businesses is designed to limit prostitution occurring in those establishments.
"The city passed the ordinance to regulate massage parlors and to make sure they are legitimate businesses," he said.
Law enforcement officials, for instance, closed two Cupertino massage businesses in 2000 on prostitution and other charges.
Even so, prostitution continues to occur in the community.
In February 2006, for instance, an undercover sheriff's officer posing as a customer paid $160 for a sexual transaction in an apartment on Pruneridge Avenue.
And in November 2005, Frank Chih-Tsung Shih was sentenced to six months in prison for operating a prostitution ring in several Santa Clara Valley communities, including Cupertino.
Despite the difficulty in making prostitution arrests, which involves extensive undercover work, Hirokawa said it was important for law enforcement agencies to do so.
"Our fear is these women are victims of human trafficking or are minors, so it's something we have to constantly monitor," he said, adding that many of the women come from Asia or Russia.
In human trafficking cases, women from overseas, including Asia and Russia, are tricked into traveling to the United States, have their passports taken by an employer and are then forced to pay back the cost of the trip to the United States and other expenses.
According to Hirokawa, the sheriff's office uses several techniques to track prostitution, including newspaper advertisements and the web.
A blog search the week of Nov. 26, for example, listed massage services from a woman that included half hour and hourly "donations" at a location near Lawrence Expressway and Highway 280.
"Sometimes they give the address," Hirokawa said of the businesses listed in newspapers. "We also rely on tips." Hirokawa .
With the prostitution businesses typically operating out of apartments or homes, Hirokawa said people should pay attention to neighbors with frequent foot traffic, such as visitors every two hours.
In the Pacifica sting operation, neighbors suspicious of an apartment with a large number of male visitors alerted police. Some customers also apparently knocked on the wrong door.
"It's not pervasive at this point, but prostitution is occurring in a lot of different communities," Hirokawa said.
"Every community has its vice," Kitson said.
