Woman faces prostitution charges after offering sex services out of Southfield massage parlor - C&G Newspapers

[Kathryn Pentiuk]

Southfield Police Department officers and members of the FBI conducted a search warrant in February at Pressure Point Massage Therapy, located at 17670 W. 12 Mile Road. Sexual acts were reportedly being formed at the business, which has since closed.

Photo provided by the Southfield Police Department



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SOUTHFIELD — On March 24, the Southfield Police Department was joined by members of the FBI at a press conference addressing a human trafficking investigation that occurred in February out of a local massage parlor.

On Feb. 19, the FBI and the Southeast Michigan Trafficking and Exploitation Crimes Task Force, which consists of law enforcement officers from the FBI, the Southfield Police Department and the Detroit Police Department, executed a search warrant related to human trafficking and a prostitution complaint at Pressure Point Massage Therapy, located at 17670 W. 12 Mile Road in Southfield.

“SEMTEC received information that Pressure Point Massage owner Rhonda Hahn’s business was performing sexual acts on clients, in exchange for money,” Southfield Police Department Chief Elvin Barren said. “It was further discovered that Hahn has been in the massage business industry for over 25 years. Hahn was licensed by the state of Michigan. However, she did not have a valid license to conduct her operation in Southfield, as their license had expired.”

Upon further investigation, Hahn, 61, told Southfield Police Department detectives and FBI agents that her business had been performing sexual acts on clients for profit for approximately 10 years.

“That is a significant amount of time to be performing sex acts,” Barren said.

He revealed that the business has since closed and is no longer operating.

According to Barren, law enforcement caught Hahn red-handed as she was in the middle of giving a male client from Bloomfield Hills a massage when the search warrant was executed.

He said that the male client informed the officers that he was nude while she was performing the massage and began touching his genitals but stopped the moment law enforcement officers executed their search warrant.

The client cooperated and alleged that he knew nothing of the illicit business operating out of the massage parlor.

“Now, if you ask me, ‘Chief, do you necessarily believe that?’ I don’t,” Barren said. “There’s no evidence that will suggest or lend us to be able to move for any type of prosecution, but I’ve been around a little bit longer than maybe he thinks that I have been around, and there’s no way I believe that she just started just doing these things, and he just, ‘Oh, I don’t know what’s going on.’”

Police also spoke with a female receptionist who denied being aware of the sexual services taking place at the location.

The FBI seized just under $1,000 and a cellphone, which was found in the possession of the receptionist. According to Barren, the investigation revealed that the receptionist has a social media account that advertises sex acts.

At press time, no charges had been filed against her or any clients.

Barren shared some advice for individuals who think that “Southfield is a good place to set these operations off.”

“We’re paying attention to what goes on in our city, and in fact, we made significant arrests in this industry,” he said. “These people that we’ve arrested are still housed today when we talk about the ones that were conducting human trafficking at our local hotels, and so we’re going to continue to investigate. This may lead to other establishments.”

According to Chris Hess, who is an assistant special agent in charge for the FBI, this issue is not unique to the metro Detroit area.

“This is a problem that affects communities all over the state of Michigan, all over the country,” Hess said.

At the press conference, Barren said that, “It’s important to note that not all massage parlors are contributing to this type of business.”

“But unfortunately, it is a reality that many are,” he said. “When you look at the data, it’s estimated that 11,000 illicit massage businesses exist across the United States, and it’s a $2.5 billion to $4.3 billion operation.”

Hahn faces charges from the state for prostitution/accepting earnings, human trafficking enterprise causing injury and/or resulting in commercial sexual activity and keeping a house of prostitution.

In addition to the state charges, she was also charged with not having a massage establishment license in 46th District Court in Southfield.

Hahn was given a $1,500 cash or surety bond for the state charges and a $500 cash or surety bond for the local charge.

She posted bond March 18.

Barren added that he would have liked a higher bond for the charges.

Hahn’s lawyer, Melodee Melisa-Rose Jefferson, did not respond to an opportunity to comment by press time.

Hahn is scheduled for a pretrial hearing April 7.

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