An Odessa massage parlor is shut down after police raided the business on suspicion of prostitution. CBS 7 News made several attempts to identify who owns the business, but the shopping center refuses to release the information and our calls to city hall were not immediately returned.
Barreras told the newspaper he had no idea illegal activity was taking place inside the massage parlor. Detectives are currently in the process of reaching out to Barreras for questioning.
Investigations like this are common in Odessa and Ector County, according to the lead undercover sergeant on the case. In fact there's one website in particular that detectives use to help spot these types of illegal businesses -- it's called Backpage. Backpage can be best described as a classified advertising website much like Craigslist. But in the eyes of undercover detectives they view this website as a tool that often leads them to prostitutes, pimps and even human trafficking.
Prostitution has always existed in Odessa. Detectives say they see it come and go in waves depending on the economy. Now this under cover sergeant is having to sit behind a computer screen and scroll through ads posted in the "body rubs" section of Backpage. Several local businesses and people are using this website to gain new clients and by clients we mean people who are looking to pay for sexual favors.
The business opened back in February and began posting sexually appealing ads of women under the name of A-1 Spa. After spending a couple of weeks watching the massage parlor, a detective went undercover as a client Wednesday night and quickly experienced for himself a massage therapist offering to perform a sexual act on him in exchange for money. That verbal exchange was enough to get a search warrant for the business, but oddly enough they closed an hour early and are now nowhere to be found.
