By David Ownes, Courant Staff Writer
Hartford Courant
VERNON- Police and federal agents raided the New Seoul Oriental Spa on Talcottville Road about noon Thursday and arrested two women on prostitution charges.
Police searched the spa after a two-month investigation that included undercover officers.
Nam Chin Paik Venderwood, 63, and Puson Hutcheson, 53, both of 655 Talcottville Road were each charged with two counts of prostitution, and bail was set at $10,000. Hutcheson was released Thursday night after posting bail. More arrests are expected, police said.
Police also seized a large amount of cash and business records they plan to review.
The spa closed for business Thursday, but police said they have no authority to prevent it from re-opening.
One customer was in the spa at the time of the raid, but the customer and masseuse were not engaged in sexual activity and the man was permitted to leave, police said.
Prostitution appeared to be the spa’s only business, said Officer Dan Champagne, a Vernon police spokesman.
“The massages were simple and weren’t that therapeutic,” Champagne said. “I think the only thing going on there was prostitution itself.”
Police said they were not surprised there was prostitution at the spa but began investigating after someone sent Police Chief Rudolf Rossmy a description of the spa from a website.
The listing on the website said that for $50 customers got a shower, sauna and massage and that after the massage, for a $20 to $40 tip, customers could be masturbated. The spa, according to police and several online forums, did not offer more extensive prostitution services and spa employees remained clothed.
Agents from the U.S. State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service participated in the raid to determine whether any of the women working at the spa were forced into sexual servitude by human traffickers.
Local and federal law enforcement authorities in the northeast have found evidence of Asian woman, many of them from Korea, being smuggled into the country and forced to work as prostitutes. In April, Waterbury police raided 10 brothels and arrested dozens.
News of the raid in Vernon spread quickly in the online community of men, who call themselves mongers, that patronize Asian spas and massage parlors for sex.
“Breaking News!!!” was the headline on a post to a forum where men report on their experiences at brothels and strip clubs.
“I just witnessed with my own eyes at about 2:30 today what looked a lot like New Seoul Spa going down,” wrote JMG. “AMPS are not safe places to be these days.” AMPS is an abbreviation for Asian massage parlors.
Police said they observed several cars slow down, or pull into the parking lot and then leave when they saw police.
The raid did not surprise most neighbors of New Seoul Spa, which is in a small strip mall at 151 Talcottville Road.
Paul Malinosky, the owner of a MetLife insurance agency next door, said he’s seen men come and go at the spa for the five years he’s been in his office. From his office one could see police officers searching the spa and the rooms where customers were serviced.
“The curtains are closed when they’re not busting the place,” Malinosky said.
Male customers would park their cars behind the spa or across the street at the CVS pharmacy, he said.
“Some idiots will park at CVS and walk across,” he said. “What’s more obvious, your car back here or walking across this major thoroughfare.”
It’s not the first time Vernon police have raided brothels. In the mid-1980s, four massage parlors offering sex operated in Vernon. Police raided the parlors and arrested several people on prostitution charges.
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