Two men who are believed to have targeted employees and customers in dozens of massage parlor robberies have been charged in federal court. One of the men admitted to carrying out 50 to 60 robberies of massage parlors in Southern California, according to federal prosecutors. The suspects, year-old Andy Cuellar of Hawthorne and year-old Arturo Morales of Downey, were arrested Friday after they held up several employees at a Torrance massage parlor, according to a page indictment filed Tuesday in the Central District of California.
Cuellar and Morales were unaware at the time that a law enforcement task force was tailing them as they drove from Compton and then got off the Freeway in Torrance. Cuellar was driving a black Jeep Grand Cherokee allegedly linked to at least 12 other massage parlor robberies committed over the last month, prosecutors said. On Friday, Cuellar and Morales stopped in front of various massage parlors, but Cuellar spent only a few seconds inside the businesses before he walked back out to the Jeep, according to the indictment.
Around p. He was led to a back room by an employee, and Morales soon followed through the door that Cuellar held open in the back of the business. Cuellar was armed with a knife and Morales was armed with a. An employee tried to run out of the business, but Cuellar caught her in the parking lot and pulled her by the hair back into the business, the indictment said.
The L. A few minutes later, both suspects allegedly left the business carrying multiple bags. Police found Cuellar and Morales at a nearby gas station, where they were allegedly sorting through the items stolen from the employees, according to prosecutors. The suspects ran when police approached the Jeep with their lights and sirens on.
Cuellar was wearing a Dodgers baseball hat, eyeglasses and distinct white boots, according to investigators. A suspect in two separate massage parlor robberies was wearing the same outfit, court records show. Investigators found the handgun that they believe was used during the robbery; it was loaded with a chambered round and was reported stolen in One of the employees at Lucky Health Therapy identified Morales as the person who used a gun during the robbery.
