Prostitution case against owners of North Pole massage parlor dismissed
Published Tuesday, August 26, 2008
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Stumble It!FAIRBANKS -- A Superior Court judge has dismissed an indictment against a North Pole couple accused of using their massage parlor as a front for prostitution, agreeing with defense attorneys that they were incorrectly charged.
In March, David Kang, 49, and his 53-year-old wife, Yong Kang, also known as Ms. Lee, each were indicted on one count of second-degree promoting prostitution, a felony. However, the statute requires that the primary purpose of the business be something other than prostitution, and that’s something prosecutors never proved when seeking the indictment, according to the defense.
After reviewing a transcript of grand jury testimony, David Kang’s lawyer, John Francich Jr., discovered that Lee’s Oriental Massage Parlor was only referred to as a “prostitution enterprise” or “place of prostitution” throughout the proceedings.
Francich filed a motion to dismiss the indictment based on the fact that the grand jury could not find the parlor to be anything but a brothel, and Superior Court Judge Mark Wood agreed, dismissing the case last week.
Prosecutors did not contest the motion, saying in a court filing that the Kangs could have only been charged with misdemeanor promoting prostitution based on grand jury testimony.
Alaska State Troopers, along with the FBI, began investigating the massage parlor in February after interviewing two Fort Wainwright soldiers outside who alluded to paying for sex inside. The Army, with the aid of the FBI, launched its own internal investigation, interviewing hundreds of soldiers about the parlor, according to court records.
Soliciting a prostitute is a violation of the uniform code of military justice, with punishments ranging from a verbal reprimand from a commanding officer to a court-martial.
Authorities seized 70 videotapes from the business in March, but later discovered that the majority were Korean movies and TV shows. Two tapes were from outdoor surveillance cameras and three tapes of “poor quality” appeared to show sexual activity taking place in a room at the parlor, according to court records.
It was “common knowledge” among troopers that the massage parlor was a front for prostitution and they had been called out there several times in recent years for assaults and security checks, according to court records. Authorities also believed the parlor may have been involved in human trafficking.
Prosecutors considered bringing charges of promoting prostitution against Yong Kang in 2006, but the case never materialized. Troopers claimed to have contacted Yong Kang going back about 10 years when she was allegedly the “head madame” at a brothel operated by 68-year-old Bruno Bardonici, according to court records.
In 2002 Bardonici was convicted in federal court of more than 90 counts of promoting prostitution and trafficking drugs at another massage parlor. He is serving a 60-year sentence.
Bardonici claimed that Yong Kang stole $20,000 from him to set up Lee’s, according to court records.
Attorneys for both sides did not return calls seeking comment by press time.
Community Discussion
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OK so they are still in business so lets go!
leave them alone, some people just sometimes need to go out and have a good time, seems like a better place than the showboat or reflections, at least you would have something to show after going thru a couple hundred
Don't know what the inside looks like but I drive by there everyday to go to and from work and the outside looks horrible. I thought the building was abondoned until one night I couldn't get down the road for all the state troopers "storming" the place. I'm not for prostitution myself, I'm not paying for somehting I can get for free, but to each thier own.
Bottom line it's against the law and2 laws should be enforced - it's been common knowledge for a lot of years what this place was - wonder why it took troopers so long to attempt to do something about it.
Troopers, FBI, and the Army? And they still lost the case?
hmm..i wonder if they all were in it..you know pay off the system?
Wonder if the FBI enjoyed watching the Korean Movies they seized.....
SO AWFUL AND NASTY BUSINESS
This is hysterically funny............. sad, but funny.
But the defense attorney and the judge read the law correctly - if you want a different outcome, change the law, don't blame the law as it is written!
Troopers, FBI, Army. Doesn't matter if the laws are incorrectly written!
hahahaha one for small business!!! The troopers need to stick to what they do best - writing traffic tickets. It's sad when justice can be bought, because normal people who can't afford a good attorney are screwed by the system. Everyone knows that is a massage parlor, all you have to do is head out there and act like you just got off the slope and she will parade girls in front of you(two friends and I want to see if really was a "massage parlor")!!
Well,I guess this too,has a " Happy Ending".
Let me get this straight, they could not be charged with second-degree promoting prostitution because the place is actually a brothel and not another kind of business? Good thing it was not called Lees Garage.
America- Love it or leave it.
If this was Russia the proprietors would have been beaten first, jailed, then questioned and within a short (or long if theres not much evidence, maybe) period of time they WILL be convicted.
I wouldn't bet that the Kang's are jumping for joy at this point, I'm quite sure the authorities will be keeping a CLOSE eye on the them until they get what they need and likely told them so.
There may have once been a time and place for a brothel, especially in Alaska- I'm sure having a brothel (though not morally agreeable to some, me included) has prevented at least SOME crimes from taking place in our area by giving certain people a place where they can buy some "action", instead of taking it.
But with the crime rate now it's probably not helping the situation.
The human trafficking concerns me way more than the prostitution which was in-effect legal before previous Wainwright commanders threatened to confine soldiers to base unless it was shutdown. This is on of my few complaints against the military in Alaska. While prostitution is generally bad, making it illegal causes greater problems than it solves (like human trafficking and other crime).
The law reads like it was written to support the old "Line", which was the one place in Fairbanks where open prostitution was tolerated. Prostitution outside this area was not tolerated so some pretended to engage in other businesses. Of course this was a few decades ago so those who have been here a lot longer than I would know the details better than me.
"America- Love it or CHANGE it."
That's MY America. Hope you voted.
Human traffickers need to be shot on the spot!
It was known by Law Inforcement as a place to get some.
This article makes me wonder what law inforcement is smoking and sniffing.
Wow. Human trafficking? What happened to that? It does not say if thats true or not.
Who cares another victimless crime. If Nevada can regulate without problems then ever other states should. Then we can concentrate on more serious crimes. Involving the FBI, State Troopers, and the Army is stupid. All those resources wasted on sex give me a break. Lets go after real crimes. Prostitution has been around almost since the beginning of time.
"Authorities also believed the parlor may have been involved in human trafficking."
I'm sure if there were people without legitimate identification or at least valid S.S.N.'s in that place they would not have just left them there, it's not as easy to have a fake i.d. that will withstand scrutiny (especially from the F.B.I.) as it was before 9-11.
What is really a shame is that our men in the service have to pay exhorbitant rates in a shabby dive.
maybe they offer a "military discount"
sosorry - men in service need not pay exhorbitant rates....nobody has to. You pay for what you get.....and if it is sleezy than you pay for it.
They dont offer military discounts or house calls
Human traffickers need to be shot on the spot is to quick of a death, make thier death last a moment or two be painful. A relative of mine works in the professional field with rescued Human slaves most are very young children. It's a shame if they are Human traffickers, and no law enforcement hasn't stopped it
"The Army, with the aid of the FBI, launched its own internal investigation," ....???? to get tapes???
Exactly "who was the 1-3" on those three tapes of “poor quality” appeared to show sexual activity taking place in a room at the parlor?
Exactly "who was the 1-2" on those two tapes from outdoor surveillance?
Whom did David Kang, Yong Kang, aka Ms. Lee get on those 5 videos?
I think those "tapes" is the reason to get sloppy on an indictment. Sounds like the indictment was worded wrong on purpose, they knew the massage parlor was just a front and never mentioned "massage parlor".
I'm glad they got off. No pun intended. It shouldn't be illegal to sell what is perfectly legal to give away.
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