SlaveryMap

Los Angeles, CA, United States

On April 11, 2006, after a multi-agency investigation by ICE, the IRS Criminal Investigation Division, and the LA County Sheriff’s Department, agents conducted a raid of eight locations, including the brothels and homes of the suspects. Mao, Lutt, and Johnson were arrested on April 11, 2006, on a 40-count indictment. Fields remained a fugitive, but was found and arrested on a later date. On August 2, 2007, Mao pleaded guilty to two felony counts--conspiring to use interstate commerce to promote prostitution, and using the proceeds from the brothels to purchase real estate, including four motocross tracks for her motocross company, MX Oasis. Mao will serve 18 months in federal prison and forfeit $10 million worth of real estate. Fields pleaded guilty to two felony counts—conspiring to use interstate commerce to promote prostitution, and conspiring to engage in money laundering. Johnson pleaded guilty to one felony count of money laundering.

Location
United States · Los Angeles, CA · 2009 (location generalized to protect survivors)
Response & intervention
In the late 1990s, Jong Ock Mao opened six businesses, including a chiropractic office, an acupuncture clinic, spas, tanning salons, and massage parlors, according to the indictment. The businesses were fronts for brothels, where Korean and Mexican women worked off smuggling debts. Four women working at Paradise Spa (the Dallas location) were taken into custody. Two faced prostitution charges, while the other two faced administrative immigration violations. There were 3-18 women in each establishment, but no further information is known about their situations.
Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don't have a verifiable source on file yet — use “Report a problem” below to add one.

← All documented cases