Sunnyvale police have dismantled a local “large-scale” brothel, arresting a cadre of johns and its madame.
Just before 2 p.m. March 20, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety raided a commercial building on Reamwood Avenue, located in a business park north of Tasman Drive.
During the execution of the warrant, Sunnyvale police and members of Santa Clara County’s human trafficking unit arrested six johns and the brothel’s madame. Officers also provided resources to seven prostituted women who may have been sex trafficked.
Capt. Dzahn Le, the Sunnyvale Department of Public Safety public information officer, would not release the names of the men police arrested. All the alleged victims are adults. Their ages range from 34 to 40 years old, he wrote in an email exchange.
Police charged the madame with keeping a “house of ill-fame” for the purposes of prostitution or lewdness. That charge is a misdemeanor. They also charged the woman with pimping. That charge is a felony. It is punishable by three, four or six years in prison.
The six men police arrested face charges of soliciting prostitution.
The brothel had no signs or markings that indicated the building was being used as a business, Le wrote, but he would not disclose the brothel’s address or specific location.
Tips from the community members assisted the sting, which cued police into the brothel’s existence. Officers recovered more than $27,000 in cash during the raid.
“This type of illegal activity will not be tolerated in Sunnyvale and will be vigorously investigated,” police wrote in a press release.
Although police do not anticipate any further arrests related to this crime, police ask anyone with information about a suspected crime in Sunnyvale to report it by calling (408) 730-7180.
Contact David Alexander at d.todd.alexander@gmail.com
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