SDPD, city attorney ask judge to close massage parlor after prostitution investigation

SAN DIEGO — San Diego law enforcement is looking to shut down a massage parlor in Kearny Mesa that they say is a front for an illegal prostitution enterprise.

City Attorney Mara Elliott announced the civil law enforcement action to close the Ocean Spa, located along Kearny Villa Road, on Tuesday, marking the end of a month-long investigation into the business in partnership with the San Diego Police Department’s Vice Unit.

“The owners of Ocean Spa have been masquerading as a legitimate business for far too long,” Elliott said in a statement. “Ocean Spa is a sex shop — not a massage parlor — and it has no place in our community or anywhere else.”

The investigation into Ocean Spa was initiated after numerous complaints were received by law enforcement. According to the city, this included “foot traffic at odd hours, people having intercourse in parked cars and sexual noises loud enough to disrupt nearby church services.”

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Over the last year, SDPD detectives spent more than 125 hours investigating the business for prostitution-related crimes, city officials said.

This included several instances where undercover police officers were offered sex by spa workers, leading to four arrests for prostitution. Although investigators say they are “not convinced” the women were voluntarily involved in the prostitution enterprise.

According to Elliott’s office, more than 1,270 advertisements soliciting sex have also been distributed online by the spa over the last five years.

In the civil law enforcement action, the city attorney is asking a judge to prohibit Ocean Spa from continuing to operate an “illegal red-light business” and impose $100,000 against it in civil penalties. Her office says they are also seeking reimbursement of attorney fees and other costs incurred from “enforcement-related activities.”

No additional details about the investigation or the efforts by law enforcement to shutter the business were immediately available.

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