262 Pennsylvania Massage Parlors Accused Of Sex Trafficking

Pennsylvania has at least 262 illicit massage parlors that operate as fronts for sex and other forms of human trafficking, according to a new report by Polaris, a Washington, D.C.-based non-profit group.

Polaris tracked what it considers "modern-day slavery" in a 100-page report on sex and labor trafficking in illicit massage businesses. The report did not directly identify the Pennsylvania massage parlors that possibly engage in "commercial sex" and other illegal activities, saying that information is part of a larger criminal investigation conducted by federal law enforcement authorities.

But it did give some specific clues as to where it obtained its information, including from Rubmaps, a buyer review board for "erotic" massage parlors with dozens in Philadelphia and its suburbs.

"Currently, the Polaris Disruption Strategies Team is focusing on illicit massage businesses, a unique form of trafficking that operates in plain sight in communities across the country," Rochelle Keyhan, director of "disruption strategies" at Polaris, wrote in the report she shared with Patch.

Polaris says at least 9,000 illicit massage parlors exist in the United States in an enterprise that generates approximately $2.5 billion a year.

In its report, Polaris said Pennsylvania had the seventh largest concentration of illicit massage businesses in the country. Pennsylvania counties with the highest number of illicit massage businesses that possibly engage in sex and labor trafficking were Philadelphia, Allegheny and Clinton, Polaris said.

Polaris researchers used Rubmaps as a primary resource for its research. Rubmaps advertises itself as a site that "facilitates fantasy as it meets reality."

Rubmaps also offers lists of erotic massage parlors for each state that Polaris used in its research to identify potential spots for sex and labor trafficking. Rubmaps catalogs more than 7,200 open and active illicit massage businesses across the country, according to Polaris. You can see the Pennsylvania list here.

On its site, however, Rubmaps goes out of its way to discourage sex and labor trafficking, saying it has "zero tolerance for underage prostitution and/or any type of sexual acts between unconsenting individuals."

Keyhan told Patch that her organization verified its information by analyzing 3,000 hotline cases and setting up focus groups involving 1,300 survivor and 100 law enforcement districts, where they learned about individual experiences.

"The average illicit massage business connects to at least one other illicit massage business as well as non-massage venues such as nail salons, beauty shops, restaurants, grocery stores, and dry cleaners," according to the report. "Overwhelmingly, these connected businesses are used to launder money earned from the illicit massage business."

Keyhan told Patch that many of the women who engage in sex and labor trafficking come from oppression in other countries, and they're looking for any opportunity to make money for their families who are living in poverty.

"They're looking for other opportunities, any opportunity to make any money that is better than over there (in other countries)," she said.

Commercial sex is perhaps the most common form of human trafficking at these businesses. But labor trafficking also takes place, with many people forced to work in drug dealing or as janitors, domestic servants and busboys in restaurants, she said. The illicit massage businesses often act as the nerve centers for operating these networks of "modern-day slavery."

Federal authorities have also made human trafficking a priority, saying they initiated 1,029 investigations with a nexus to human trafficking in 2016, and recorded 1,952 arrests, 1,176 indictments, and 631 convictions.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) "continues to make human trafficking cases a top investigative priority, bringing traffickers to justice and connecting victims to services to help them restore their lives," according to its website.

"Cultural shame combined with elements of force, fraud, and coercion — the very elements that make up the crime of trafficking — often lead women arrested at illicit massage businesses to insist to police that they are performing commercial sex acts of their own free will," according to the report.

You can read the whole Polaris report by clicking here.

With reporting by Tom Davis

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