Tuesday morning, The Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation named Lubbock as one of eight cities where a string of massage parlors were suspected of Human Trafficking.
EverythingLubbock.com spoke with TDLR spokesperson, Mike Rush, on the investigation and what prompted an ’emergency order’ to halt all operations at the eight establishments.
“Throughout these eight different establishments throughout Texas, we found a number of red flags, if you will,” Rush said. “Human trafficking including employees at these places saying that they were massage therapists when they could not show evidence that they were licensed, also, there was evidence that some of these employees were actually living at some of these establishments.”
Rush said in Lubbock specifically, the south Lubbock massage parlor, located near University and 74th, was suspected of posting illicit advertisements online for sexual services.
“They’re typically online advertisements at different places on the web and our investigators know the different places to look for these sorts of things and they advertise sexual services and they’re connected back to these eight establishments,” Rush said.
TDLR investigators said they found these eight parlors all seemed to be owned by the same people.
“We found through our investigation that all eight of these establishments were owned by the same three people, which is not uncommon for either one person or a group of people to have multiple locations throughout the state,” Rush said.
Locations apart of the operation included parlors in Amarillo, Cleburn, Kerrville, Midland, Odessa, and Lubbock.
Rush described an incident involving one of the Midland locations that included a daycare housed in the same building.
“A particular massage establishment shares a building with a daycare center, this employee was crawling through the ceiling and trying to get into the daycare center in order to escape,” Rush said.
Rush said police did apprehend the woman, and she was arrested for prostitution.
Rush mentioned while most parlors are legit, he described the signs of human trafficking or illegal activity happening at massage parlors and how to tell the difference.
“If you walk in and there’s several levels of security to get through, that could be a red flag, If you see that the employees, the massage therapists are dressed provocatively…If there is an ATM in the lobby, that could be a sign because a lot of these places work in cash only,” Rush said.
Rush also said consultation documents that ask for health history on pain points to target are typically presented, if they are not, the business may not be legitimate.
Rush said resources were provided to all victims involved in the situation but were refused.
According to the release, the emergency order requires the business to remain closed for six months. The owners are also not allowed to operate massage businesses at these locations or throughout the state of Texas.
To report a complaint to TDLR, visit their website here.
If you suspect that any human trafficking is occurring anywhere, you can contact the National Hotline for Human Trafficking at 1-888-373-7888 or text HELP or INFO to BeFree (233733) or you can file a complaint on a TDLR-regulated business that you suspect may be participating in human trafficking.
