AUSTIN (KXAN) — The Austin Police Department is investigating an alleged sex trafficking operation at a massage parlor in southwest Austin on U.S. Highway 290.
So far, police have arrested one suspect, who investigators have detailed in court documents as the woman running the operation.
According to the arrest affidavit for that woman, she helped employees inside the business 24 hours a day – against their will – and forced them to “ask clients if they wanted sexual services at the end of the massage.”
Those services, per court records, come at an additional cost, which victims told police the woman running the operation would keep the majority of.
“They are a licensed massage establishment with TDLR and a law that went into effect last September gives our executive director the authority to issue a 6-month emergency closure order if there is suspected human trafficking occurring,” said Tela Mange with the Texas Department of Licensing and Registration (TDLR).
As part of that order, the TDLR placed the notice, pictured below, on the front door of RS Foot Massage, the business under investigation.
Signage for RS Foot Massage is no longer up on the building. The business was in a shopping plaza. The door was closed and locked when KXAN attempted to speak with someone inside.
Mange said the business had been licensed with the TDLR since 2019 and had no violations in that time. She added that since the legislature granted the agency the power to issue these emergency closures in September 2023, TDLR has issued four across the state. Two others were in the Houston area.
According to APD data, police made five sex trafficking arrests from 2020-2023.
“If you see something, let us know,” Mange said.
Mange said evidence at massage parlors related to sex trafficking operations often goes unreported. Below is a list of things she advises people to look out for and report to the TDLR:
- Signs people live at the business
- Condoms
- Flavored massage oil
- No consultation forms
- Having to “buzz in” to get into the building
- Employees not dressed professionally
- ATM inside
“We are really motivated to eradicate human trafficking in Texas,” Mange said.