FALLS CHURCH, Virginia — Most of the houses on Summerfield Road in this Virginia suburb are Cape Cods, with a few McMansions mixed in. But the very last house is a two-story colonial that is now up for rent, now that it no longer operates as a whorehouse.
Asian massage parlors where clientele can pay extra for sexual favors are not unique, unfortunately. But Rose Spa, at times known as One Health and L Health, was different.
For starters, it operated on a residential street. The house next door was home to a couple with a baby. A school bus stop was visible from the brothel’s front door — customers seeking an afternoon delight might park behind the students from Jackson Middle School and Falls Church High School as they returned home with their homework-laden backpacks.
Secondly, this appeared to be simply a place to get sex, not a massage and a sexual favor for extra; just sex. The place never even had a massage license.
I learned of the brothel after a friend’s wife saw the “Rose Spa” sign out front and thought she’d like a spa day. One peek at the website made it crystal clear that the desired clientele was men, and the product being offered was sexy Asian women.
One July evening, my wife noticed police action in front of the brothel. I visited the street and approached a neighbor there — a stranger. “I’m a reporter, and I’m looking into the —”
“The brothel?” she interrupted me.
It was a poorly kept secret. Google the address and you would find reviews on AMP Reviews (Asian Massage Parlor) that included cup size and described the let-down of having to settle for oral sex because one masseuse was on her period.
Search the phone number, and you’ll find ads on websites that advertise prostitutes.
I was unwilling to pay for the premium subscription to AMP Reviews to get the more explicit reviews, nor to turn off my web filter or click on the links to see the ads in full color.
But everyone knew it was a brothel — which led folks to wonder why it stayed open from when it opened late last year to when the business finally moved out on Aug. 31.
The simplest explanation is that Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano, a Soros-funded self-described “progressive prosecutor” who openly refuses to enforce laws he dislikes, simply didn’t want to enforce the state’s laws against prostitution.
The police wanted to shut the place down, but they told neighbors, “Our hands are tied,” presumably a reference to Descano’s tolerance of the place. So the police repeatedly cited it and eventually brought two charges in July: one for lacking a massage license and one for keeping “a bawdy place.” The bawdy place charge is basically the misdemeanor version of a prostitution charge.
A month later, at the bench trial, Descano’s deputy dropped the prostitution charge and secured a guilty plea for the massage-license misdemeanor. The next day, the police and county code enforcement showed up and noted that the spa, while up and running, still lacked a massage license.
Beginning that evening, a Fairfax County Police Department cruiser was parked directly across the street from the brothel permanently, and the spa put a sign on its door saying it was closed and would reopen when it got its license.
Then, on Sunday, Aug. 31, according to the landlord, the tenants moved out. I called the landlord, who told me, “The county, the police department, and myself worked diligently within the law.” Maybe. But surely Steve Descano didn’t help.
