Those of you who get a kick out of the seamy and salacious — none of us here do, of course — are in for a disappointment: The federal sex-trafficking case that turned into a prostitution ring bust looks like it’s going to evaporate before we know whether any of the law enforcement officials who busted a massage parlor/brothel had been patrons of the same establishment.
On Monday, the San Francisco U.S. attorney’s office announced that Anthony Lau, a reputed brothel owner, had pleaded guilty to a single count of money laundering, though not to the alien harboring charges for which he was indicted. While the disposition may be favorable to the government and defense, it seems likely to stop Lau attorney Steven Gruel’s attempt to get more information about supposed witness statements that law enforcement officials patronized Lau’s brothel.
But the plea did answer one question: Lau was in fact operating a house of ill repute. He admitted, as part of his plea, that he “owned the Golden Flower Steam and Sauna Spa, located at 215 Second Street in San Francisco, and operated it as a brothel. Mr. Lau and his partners employed, as prostitutes, aliens without legal status to work in the United States.
We’d still like to know just how well the cops had cased the joint, though.
— Justin Scheck
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