LICENSE CHECK—Thousand Oaks deputies Brent Miller and Jennifer Bowie examine the state licenses for individual masseuses at one of nine Thousand Oaks massage parlors visited during a permit and license inspection sweep on Friday. IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers One masseuse was arrested and one business shut down Feb. 17 during a surprise police sweep of 11 massage parlors in Thousand Oaks. Most locations visited by law enforcement Friday night were operating legally.

Police arrested masseuse Hanguang Li, 29, of Monterey Park on a misdemeanor charge of performing a lewd act at Ocean Body and Foot Massage at 777 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

Deputies later shut down Lotus Thai Massage at 662 N. Moorpark Road because they said the owner did not have the proper permits.

Senior Dep. William Hutton led three deputies from TOPD’s Community Oriented Policing Problem Solving unit, or COPPS, in a compliance check.

PULLING BACK THE CURTAIN—TOPD officers prepare to take a woman into custody during a police sweep of local massage parlors on Friday. When they came into the Ocean Body and Foot Massage unannounced, police said they discovered the woman in the process of a sexual act with a client; she denied the accusation but was arrested on a misdemeanor charge. The Acorn was invited along to view the operation.

The city has 33 massage businesses, most in a three-mile stretch along or near T.O. Boulevard.

The plainclothes officers checked that massage workers had a valid certificate from the California Massage Therapy Council or a city-issued massage technician license. They also verified that each business had a massage establishment license and a business tax certificate from the city.

City law requires all massage-related licenses be displayed where customers can see them.

QUESTIONING—Dep. Larrs Johnson takes down information from a man suspected of receiving sexual services from a masseuse at Ocean Body and Foot Massage on Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Like the masseuse, the man denied that anything sexual was going on. Photos by IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers In search of illegal acts

During Friday’s sweep, TOPD officers entered the businesses unannounced and walked throughout the building, pushing back curtains that sectioned off massage rooms.

According to Dep. Larrs Johnson, in one room at Ocean Body and Foot Massage, he caught Li in the act of having sexual contact with her customer.

Li, who spoke limited English, repeatedly denied the accusation as she was handcuffed and taken away. The client also denied he had sexual contact with Li.

The parlor’s co-owner, Cindy He, told the Acorn she tolerates no sexual contact between employees and customers.

“I tell the employees only massage here,” said He, a native of China who also owns Golden Combo and Foot Massage, which is several doors west on T.O. Boulevard and whose licenses were in order when police checked earlier.

Police did not arrest the married Thousand Oaks resident and software engineer who was in the room with Li and allowed him to leave after questioning.

Hutton said rather than arrest the “johns,” or customers, officers try to confirm with them that illegal sexual activity did occur. The men are usually willing to cooperate in hopes that their wives or girlfriends won’t find out they were at a massage parlor, the senior deputy said.

Officers think it’s more effective to go after the massage employee to discourage the business from permitting sexual activity, he said.

“Yes, he’s receiving services, but he couldn’t receive those services if these businesses weren’t providing it,” Hutton said. “So to get to the root of the problem, we do arrest the provider of the service.”

At Lotus Thai on Moorpark Road, owner Mona Vin did not have a city-issued massage establishment license or a current business license, Hutton said. Although Vin’s failure to have an establishment permit forced him to shut the business down temporarily, the officer said he believes that, like most in T.O., Lotus Thai is a legitimate massage establishment.

Lotus Thai also did not have up-to-date city massage technician licenses for its workers, he said.

Vin told officers she’d tried to obtain the required licenses but was told confusing information at city hall. She said she would correct the problem as quickly as possible.

“It shouldn’t be any problem to get the license back,” Vin said.

In Friday’s sweep, three of the 11 massage businesses were closed and six had proper, up-to-date licenses. Police say they saw no other illegal activity.

What’s afoot?

In 2009, the city of Thousand Oaks saw a proliferation of foot massage businesses. Hutton said massage business owners have told him they left the San Gabriel Valley due to intense competition.

Since 2009, police have been aggressive about enforcing all massage-related city ordinances, said Sgt. Romano Bassi, who oversees the COPPS unit. Compliance sweeps and undercover sting operations are conducted throughout the year.

TOPD also scrutinizes applications from massage businesses and technicians, verifying that school transcripts are authentic and that listed vocational schools are state-approved, Bassi said.

In 2010, the police department denied 50 massage licenses, made 25 misdemeanor arrests and identifi ed 24 massage technicians who attended fraudulent vocational schools, Bassi said in an email.

Bassi said the crackdown resulted in the department’s seeing fewer suspicious applications last year.

In 2011, the department denied licenses to five massage technicians because of inaccurate application information, fraudulent certificates and school transcripts, or because they failed to disclose previous arrests. Four other technicians withdrew their applications when the department asked for more information, he said.

Last year, nine citations were issued to technicians and businesses for failure to have the necessary city massage licenses. In addition, the number of city-issued massage technician licenses dropped last year to 87, compared with 197 in 2010. And the number of massage establishment licenses issued in 2011 fell to 29, from 51 issued the year before.

Bassi and Hutton said the public distinguishes a legitimate massage business from one that’s a front for prostitution by reading online customers reviews of the business and checking that the business has current city or state massage licenses on display.

A list of approved massage schools is available on the website of the California Massage Therapy Council, the same agency that issues state massage licenses.