Immigration rights group says LAPD violated policy in vice raid on 'hostess club'

Los Angeles police are defending their handling of a raid at a downtown hostess club -- an operation that resulted in dozens of arrests of illegal immigrant workers -- after an advocacy group charged that the vice operation violated Special Order 40, a policy governing how officers interact with immigrants.

Advocates from the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles said the LAPD officers violated that policy in arresting 81 women and seven men Friday at the 907 Club on Hill Street. The advocacy group said most of those arrested were "honest, hard-working immigrants" who might themselves have been victims of abuse.

"The LAPD has acted rashly by arresting those it claims to protect and in the process endanger the delicate balance between local policing and immigration enforcement," CHIRLA director Angelica Salas said in a statement.

Special Order 40 prohibits LAPD officers from initiating contact with someone solely to determine whether they are in the country legally. But in a statement released Wednesday, the LAPD said the four-month probe was only related to alleged criminal conduct and was not an immigration investigation.

"It is strictly an investigation into labor code violations, human trafficking concerns, prostitution, possession of fraudulent California identification cards, gambling and violation of a conditional use permit," the department said.

Club 907, like similar "hostess club" establishments, is regulated by the Los Angeles Police Commission. Patrons pay women who work at the clubs for time and companionship that includes talking, buying non-alcoholic drinks or dancing. The club charges $30 per hour, with discounts on certain days of the week.

The Police Commission permit prohibits hostess clubs from serving alcohol and does not allow nudity or other adult entertainment. But the LAPD said that during a four-month investigation their officers witnessed or found evidence of prostitution, lewd conduct, gambling and the use of counterfeit identification.

Police said that on the day of the arrests, they found more than 400 people inside the 907 Club, which had a maximum capacity of 250 patrons.

Officers said they found dozens of female dancers employed by the club with false identification for purposes of employment and found evidence that most were engaging in prostitution. Some 88 people were arrested -- 81 of them women. Only three were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit prostitution: a club manager, and two women who were brought in to dance in bikinis and were allowed to be groped by patrons, police said.

Of the others, 59 were arrested on suspicion of possession of fraudulent California identification, 18 for willfully obtaining personal information, four for gambling violations, two for misdemeanor warrants, one for interfering with police operations and one for violating the club's conditional use permits.

A 17-year-old girl who had been reported missing was found inside and was also arrested on suspicion of possessing false identification. Police also seized two bags of cocaine, over $100,000 in cash, condoms, and liquor.

A 29-year-old club worker who was out on bail Wednesday after her arrest on suspicion of possessing fraudulent identification said that while the women were detained inside the club, officers asked those with “good ID” to step forward and separated them from the others. She believed that officers were trying to determine the workers' immigration status.

The worker, who asked that her name not be used, said that she obtained false documents at the request of club management, who would direct workers to go to MacArthur Park to get identification.

LAPD officials said that during the operation, officers separated those who were patrons from those determined to be employees and management of the club.  The patrons were released.  The employees and management were taken to the LAPD’s Central Area station. 

Police said the detainees were separated because those possessing fraudulent identification had committed a crime and would be arrested. They said it had nothing to do with immigration. 

All employees who had valid identification were detained and released after booking, the LAPD said.  Those who had fraudulent or no identification were subject to questioning by the LAPD and agents with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

ICE agents were already conducting their own investigation into the potential federal violations involving the creation and use of fraudulent identifications to gain employment status, the LAPD said.

Immigration officials later determined that 75 of the arrestees were in the country illegally. ICE spokeswoman Lori Haley said Wednesday that none of them were in ICE custody.

But immigration rights advocates pointed to the arrests for false documentation or identity theft as evidence that the LAPD was most interested in the immigration status of the suspects.

CHIRLA spokesman Jorge-Mario Cabrera said the approximately 20 club workers the organization had spoken to typically worked 10 hours a day six or seven days a week. They were required to pay money out of pocket to the club if they worked less than 20 hours a week and forced to buy drinking water from the club while on shift.

"The potential victims were instead charged with a serious crime, a felony, and were turned over to immigration," Cabrera said.

According to a statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, federal agents were not part of the raid at the club, but became involved to investigate whether federal crimes had been committed, including victimization of female employees. State labor investigators were also involved in the operation, according to police.

Officials said they have found no evidence of human trafficking at the club to date. Immigration attorney Jessica Dominguez, who is representing many of the club workers, said some may be eligible for a U visa, which gives temporary legal status to victims of crimes who cooperate with authorities in prosecuting the crime.

Roger Jon Diamond, an attorney representing Goliath Inc., the corporation that owns the club, said he was not aware of any allegations that management had asked employees to obtain false documents. The owners are currently investigating whether there was any wrongdoing by mid-level management employees, he said.

 "There have been no accusations of wrongdoing [against the owner], no charges, nothing has been filed, and we ask the public to wait for the investigation to be concluded," he said. "And if anybody wants to dance with a hostess, they’re free to go to the club and dance."

 -- Abby Sewell and Andrew Blankstein

Comments

[shadowpark]

Wow I just went to the web site fo CHIRLA this is a joke click on the video and the women say {en espanol} That no illegal activity happens and they only dance/bailar with the patrons and that they were targets by ICE for no reason!
There needs to be an investigation into CHIRLA there board members list is the whos who of some controversial activity with some interesting ties to the drug barons and crooked business schemes.

[snodrog]

Hy guys....Just because they weren't exployer scouts from beverly hills and hollywood putting out for you is no reason to terrorize a bunch of teenage girls...just because they are latino.

[OC Raton]

Wow, even the LA Times readers have comments like this. You all sound like Sarah Palin protégés!
Here's the deal: Why don't the cops focus on more important crimes like the robberies, murders, rapes, large-scale burglaries, etc.?

In fact, why not have a "real" investigation of this crime: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-marshal-shooting-20101110,0,2650263.story. Obviously, they are too short-staffed to be able to focus on this, since they couldn't find sufficient evidence (and, heck, the drunk off-duty marshall sounds pretty believable) to prosecute.

So let's refocus our ever-abundant and well compensated law enforcement folks to more important crimes.

[martynGB]

Special order 40 needs to go, the sooner the better.

[Maria]

Special Order 40 needs to go, and Obama, needs to start enforcing the immigrations' laws on the book. These people come in demanding everything because of Special Order 40, and the Feds not doing their jobs. I wonder who thought up Special Order 40? The citizens should have voted on it since it changes the immigration. We will continue to have Special 40 if Alex Padellia, elected mayor; and it will not happen with my vote.

[Hank]

It doesn't say anything about which country any of the people who were arrested migrated from. Why are so many people, as soon as they read the word "illegal", foaming at the mouth and crying about their hatred for Mexicans like talk show pundits minus the ability to form a coherent sentence.
And, by the way, when you use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS it just makes me feel like I'm in your house watching you get red in the face while pathetically yelling at your television about how hard it is to be white and middle class.
I honestly don't understand how these anti-immigrant zealots can simultaneously hold the idea in their head that people should be deprived of their human rights, a childish "entitlement", while moaning and complaining about how they're entitled unlimited government funding, for drones and walls and God knows what else, to stem the flow of migration caused by U.S. foreign policy and business practices.
Its worse than shooting the messenger, its blaming the displaced while at the same time reaping the benefits of people's second class treatment.

[Hank]

It is not a criminal offense to be in the U.S. without documentation. Thank God.
If some of the wackos commenting on here ran the country we'd having nothing free left about us except free trade, the main cause of these exploitative situations.

[Army1045]

YEA. I AGREE. LETS BUILD MORE JAILS! YEA! THEN COMPLAIN ABOUT GOVERNMENT SPENDING ON THOSE JAILS!! YEA!! AND PASS LAWS THAT REQUIRE ENORMOUS PURCHASES OF DRONES AND WEAPONS!! YEA!! I LOVE SELF FULFILLING, CYCLICAL LOGIC! YEA!!! YEA!
And who's standing up for the poor multinational weapons companies? Or the poor, rich 50+ white men? HUH??? Where's their lobby?? Oh yea, the NRA. The Tea Party. The Republican Party. The Democratic Party.
LET'S STAND UP FOR PRIVATE PRISON CONTRACTORS AND WEAPONS MANUFACTURERS!! YEA! No one cares about THEIR interests!
WE NEED TO CLOSE ALL OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND BLOW THE MONEY ON ARRESTING POOR PEOPLE LOOKING FOR WORK AND WEAPONS AND COOL DRONES AND THINGS THAT BLOW UP!!! I'M STARTING MY OWN PARTY FUNDED BY BILLIONAIRES!! YEAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I HATE POLITICIANS AND SPELLING AND GRAMMAR!! I GET SOCIAL SECURITY AND WENT TO PUBLIC SCHOOL BUT I'M ALWAYS MOANING ABOUT PEOPLE FEELING ENTITLED!!!
Why don't you get off the comment section and read a few books, you jingoistic, authoritarian, uninformed echos of horrible pundits on day-time TV? You feel disenfranchised cause you don't get to sit in the "white only" section anymore? How about if you don't like it you GO BACK TO ENGLAND. GO BACK TO GERMANY! You're taking my job! Lemme see the papers showing you were hear before the Declaration of Independence.
WHERE ARE YOUR PAPERS???
The problem facing you is not that someone is "taking" your country, its that you're being left in the 1950's while everyone else moves on.
Your irrelevant and full of hate; must suck. Hope you don't wind up dying alone.

[Another John]

As always consumers of illegal drugs and activities are set free.

[Michael]

Send the seventeen year old home. Let the consenting adults do as they wish and go solve real crimes.

[Carmen]

I heard the interview done to these women in the spanish network and they (women)said that they were not prostitutes or doing anything illegal so why are they receiving a U Visa??

[Fed Up]

It's great that the politically correct thing to do is to give illegal aliens a protected class status and given more rights than legal residents and citizens.

[Tomas Razinos]

in what world is a foreign national who is breaking US immigration law considered "honest" ???

[curtsd80]

the statement that they are "honest hardworking immigrants" is BS! Honest? really, that is why they are here illegally, work illegally, and commit crime, deport them all, it will make us all safer and better off.

[Ben Carson Taylor]

Wow good job Abby Sewell and Andrew Blackstein. You both really knew what you were doing when you came up with the title and the spin.
What a joke of a title and a joke of a report.

I'd like to start out by making sure everyone who reads this understands that I am not in support of ILLEGAL immigration or part of any organization.

I think its safe to say that most people would want the individuals who committed illegal actions at this venue to be prosecuted for the crimes committed. In my own opinion CHIRLA is defending the rights of those people whose rights have already been violated, meaning those involved in the human trafficking. If they so much as find one young girl or person being used for sexual acts, CHIRLA has done there job. I'm sure the last thing Angelica Salas wants is to be seen as the leader of an organization that protects drug lords and prostitutes. I commend CHIRLA for there valiant efforts of trying to defend those that are unable to protect themselves, victims of human trafficking.

I am curious to find out how many of those illegal immigrants that were arrested were in charge of the whole operation and how many were being coerced into sexual acts.

It saddens me to see so much anger towards these organizations who are fighting for a group of people who are taken advantage of on a daily basis. Many of these people who are used as sex slaves have been brought here without there consent and have been trafficked since the age of 13? With a situation like this it is easy to come to horrible conclusions and harsh judgement. It angers me, as a retired journalist to see such a horrible representation of a situation.

[John LAPD Retired, now a Texan]

COME TO TEXAS! THOSE ARE THE SAME PEOPLE WHO ARE SHOOTING AT EL PASO CITY HALL, AND KILLING OUR CITIZENS ON "FALCON LAKE"!

They are in our nation "illegally" let's start with that-and it just rolls down hill from that point.

Would someone PLEASE CHECK Angelica Salas citizen status! Maybe we can send her back too!

I am sitting in my home right now watching a "world news tonight" artical about "drugs" and "drug abuse" in Mexico-NO WAY-NOT IN THE USA.

Thank God we have a new congress- maybe they will shut off the money to "sanctuary cities" like LA- I wonder what Angelica Salas will have to say about that! The nation changed a bit on Nov 2nd. Texas is now set to take up an "Arizona" type law in January- in Texas, conservatives hold a "super majpority" so I have faith it will pass. THANK GOD I MOVED OUT OUT LA!

[John LAPD Retired, now a Texan]

THIS SOUNDS LIKE "TOOLS OF THE TRADE" when you talk about "sex slaves"-"Officers said they found dozens of female dancers employed by the club with false identification for purposes of employment and found evidence that most were engaging in prostitution." "Police also seized two bags of cocaine, over $100,000 in cash, condoms, and liquor."

OUTSTANDING JOB-ATTA BOY LAPD!

[DerailAmnesty Dotcom]

CHIRLA is interested in one thing in this matter: Illegal aliens are allowed to remain and work in Los Angeles.

Angelica Salas and her crew are amnesty advocates of the first order. Google her name. If a person's brown, CHIRLA is your friend. Whatever crimes you may be committing are largely irrelevant from that organization's perspective. This story, and CHIRLA's complaints about illegals getting caught up in the bust, should surprise no one.

[DelWebb]

Latinos are always whining about Americans enforcing our laws.
Why don't these people go back where they came from? We Americans are sick of them whining about good laws being enforced.

We don't want the U.S. looking like the cesspools Latinos came from.
The United States was once a nice nation.

[Jimi]

So this club is dealing coke, running a brothel and all the illegal alien defenders can say is they were innocent workers when they were turning tricks?

Wow. Is that what culture is in Mexico, oops, I mean LA?

[Question, please?]

Where's ICE and the Attorney General concerning the 907 club knowingly hiring illegals?