On January 30, 2018, CBS Pittsburgh reported that Pittsburgh police had responded to multiple complaints from local residents and business owners concerning alleged suspicious activity and drug use at Pittsburgh’s Youtopia Beauty Bar. After investigating, officers purportedly tore down the business’s sign and confiscated massage tables, cell phones, computers, cameras, and cash.
CBS Pittsburgh also posted a video in conjunction with its article, which included interviews with several women who resided next door to Youtopia Beauty Bar. One of the interviewees indicated that men have come into her home looking for the massage parlor, suggesting that they were looking for “something else.”
These types of complaints were what led undercover Pittsburgh detectives to initially visit the business. One undercover officer reportedly set up a 1 p.m. appointment with a 41-year-old woman working at the Youtopia Beauty Bar. The woman allegedly agreed to perform a sex act for $250 and was charged with prostitution. According to CBS Pittsburgh, police were apparently prepared to serve prostitution arrest warrants on two other women, but they were not at the business when the undercover detectives arrived.
In Pennsylvania, a person may be charged for prostitution under 18 Pa. C.S.A. § 5902(a). The woman in this case has been charged with prostitution pursuant to 18 Pa. C.S.A. § 5902(a)(1), which provides: “A person is guilty of prostitution if he or she: (1) is an inmate of a house of prostitution or otherwise engages in sexual activity as a business.”
The article published by CBS Pittsburgh does not indicate whether any attempts were made to identify the woman as a victim of human trafficking, nor is there mention of a search for any of the alleged sex buyers whom neighbors of the business lodged some of their complaints about. And, while it is a crime to purchase sex in Pennsylvania, those who buy sex are often prosecuted at a much more diminutive rate than those who sell it. In fact, in 2016 buyers constituted only 21.79% of the arrests made for commercial sex in the state.
Massage parlors and spas often serve as a façade for commercial sexual exploitation. It is encouraging that residents and other local businesses noticed that the Youtopia Beauty Bar may have been engaging in illegal activity. However, the lack of information regarding who owns the business or the building in which it operated begs the question: was the woman working of her own volition? Or, is the woman a victim of commercial sexual exploitation?
There are over 9,000 illicit massage parlors and spas operating throughout the United States, according to page ten of a recent study published by The Polaris Project. On page 22 of the study, Polaris reports that victims of human trafficking are often immigrants who responded to what they thought were legitimate job opportunities for a massage therapist, only to end up becoming involved in true aim of the business – commercial sexual exploitation. Traffickers often utilize psychological manipulation, which may include threats that often result in victims becoming “trauma bonded” to the traffickers, according to pages 27-28 of the Polaris Project report. This psychological manipulation can affect trafficking victims’ willingness to self-identify as victims. The CSE Institute encourages law enforcement to make it abundantly clear that victims of trafficking will not be charged with a crime, to let victims know they have not done anything wrong, and to connect them with vital social services and exit strategies.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.