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By Shira Li Bartov
Staff Writer, Off-Platform
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A former police officer has been charged with running a prostitution ring under the guise of illicit massage parlors, according to a release from the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) this month.
Retired San Diego detective and former attorney Peter Griffin, 78, allegedly ran five massage businesses that sold commercial sex in California and Arizona. Griffin previously worked in the Vice Operations Unit of the San Diego Police Department, which is "tasked with dismantling the very businesses he now stands charged with operating and promoting," said the DOJ.
Griffin was arrested near his San Diego home on August 11. Together with three co-defendants, he has been charged with conspiracy, interstate and foreign travel or transportation in aid of racketeering (ITAR), money laundering, making a false statement to a mortgage lender, and wire fraud, according to an indictment partially unsealed on August 12.
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The indictment alleged that Griffin and three others owned and operated the illicit massage parlors at various times between 2013 and August 2022. They are accused of using cell phones, the internet and banking channels to register their businesses, advertise sex online, employ women, manage the businesses' finances and profit from the illegal services.
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According to a profile on Lawyer.com, Griffin retired from the San Diego Police Department in 2002 after 27 years on the force, investigating narcotics, homicide and robbery, along with his work in the vice unit. The profile also said that Griffin established a private investigation firm licensed by the State of California.
The U.S. is home to an estimated 9,000 illicit massage businesses that collectively earn nearly $2.5 billion a year, according to the Polaris Project, an anti-trafficking organization. Although some women in these businesses choose to sell sex along with or under the guise of massage services, the Polaris Project reported that many are victims of human trafficking.
Nearly all the victims of massage parlor trafficking in the U.S. recently arrived from China or South Korea, speak little to no English and are mothers in their mid-30s to late 50s, according to the nonprofit. Most also carry debts or other extreme financial burdens.
The past year has seen multiple law enforcement officers charged with involvement in prostitution and sex trafficking.
In April, a public safety officer at Western Michigan University (WMU) was arrested in a human trafficking sting operation in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Meanwhile, two former police officers in Fairfax County, Virginia, were sued in federal court last December for allegedly protecting a sex trafficking ring in exchange for free sex from the victims.
And in October 2021, two former New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers were caught in a sting operation after they allegedly transported prostitutes to meet clients in exchange for cash payoffs.
Newsweek reached out to the U.S. Attorney's Office in the Southern District of California for comment.
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