Massage Parlors

The San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department is seeking a man who has allegedly raped and robbed employees of massage parlors in Fontana, Chino Hills, Highland, San Bernardino, Loma Linda and Colton. Sheriff's officials say the man, age 25 to 45, 5 feet 9 to 6 feet tall and 200 to 250 pounds, was last seen May 2 robbing massage parlors in Fontana and Colton while wearing a blue Dodgers T-shirt, gray pants, dark shoes and a black and tan fisherman's hat.

A Lakewood man accused of killing his wife, the daughter of a former state senator, testified at his trial Thursday that he had had numerous sexual encounters, but said they occurred years before her disappearance. Bruce Koklich, taking the stand in his own defense, said he and Jana Carpenter-Koklich had two successful businesses and a loving relationship of almost 20 years. "There's nobody that I loved more," Koklich said.

Twenty-seven people have been charged with running prostitution operations from five massage parlors and chiropractic offices in the San Fernando Valley, authorities said Wednesday. Among those charged was Kathryn Good, 52, a licensed chiropractor, who faces three counts of maintaining a house of prostitution by leasing out her license to chiropractic clinics, including Chiropractic Care in Granada Hills, Sylmar Chiropractic Care and Topanga Therapy in Chatsworth, said City Atty.

Eight men were killed and two wounded in an execution-style massacre at a Cape Town massage parlor, police said. Police spokesman Etienne Terblanche said most of the victims were found shot dead, with their hands tied and throats slit, in a house in the seedy Sea Point suburb, which markets itself as a holiday destination for gays. Prostitution is common in Sea Point, though police would say only that the house where the bodies were found was known to be a gay massage parlor.

A proposal in the South Orange County city of Lake Forest would require windows in the doorways to rooms in massage parlors, the better to see exactly what customers are getting for their money. Massage devotees say that would leave them exposed. Supporters say that's the idea. Citing problems with massage parlors during the last three years, city officials drafted guidelines to bolster the city's existing ordinance.

The number of alleged cases of prostitution in chiropractic offices reported upon in "Kinky Therapy for Your Back" (May 3) amounts to involvement by roughly 0.1% of licensed chiropractors in California. This number is of no statistical significance and should not be delivered to the public in a way that reflects poorly upon all chiropractors who practice ethically and legally to deliver quality care. The California Chiropractic Assn. strongly supports disciplinary action against any professional who does not conduct legal business practices.

Standing in front of Samoa Acupressure in Reseda, Los Angeles City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo announced criminal charges Tuesday against similar massage parlors suspected of prostitution or operating without proper licensing. Samoa Acupressure, which closed March 8, was one of 10 businesses in the San Fernando Valley purporting to provide legal massage, acupressure or aromatherapy that were targeted in February by the Los Angeles Police Department in a sting.

Huntington Beach police announced Friday that they will scrap a 17-year-old vice-squad requirement that all city massage therapists be tested regularly for sexually transmitted diseases--a requirement that critics claimed is outdated and illegal. Facing the ire of national and local massage therapists, city police said they will no longer demand that massage therapists submit to annual testing for HIV, syphilis and gonorrhea.

The "Sopranos" scriptwriters should have been in Lodi, N.J., last week when police raided a local massage parlor and arrested 16 people on prostitution-related charges. Forget "life imitates art." This was more a case of "if the shoe fits." While people from New Jersey like to grouse that the state's image takes a beating on the hit HBO TV series every week, the police turned up a scene in the Ultima Spa that proved Hollywood might be onto something.

The Los Angeles city attorney's office has filed charges against seven people stemming from an October sweep of chiropractor offices that were allegedly fronts for prostitution houses, authorities said Friday. The seven people were charged with either prostitution or operating as massage technicians without a license, or both, according to Mike Qualls, a city attorney spokesman.