On Tuesday, a former San Diego police detective and three others who ran massage parlors that offered sex services for money pleaded guilty to federal charges.
Peter Griffin, who is 78 years old, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money, wire fraud conspiracy, conspiracy to help businesses with prostitution do business across state lines, and other crimes in San Diego federal court, according to a news release from the Department of Justice.
Griffin was a police officer for 27 years at the San Diego Police Department. According to court documents, he spent part of his career as a detective in the Vice Operations Unit.
Court documents said that as a vice detective, one of his jobs was to look into and make arrests related to illegal massage parlors. The Department of Justice said that he then used his insider knowledge to run five massage shops in California and Arizona.
When Griffin left the San Diego Police Department in 2002, he worked as a private investigator until 2013, when he and a partner started running a massage business in San Diego called Genie Oriental Spa.
According to court documents, Griffin ran or owned four other massage parlors. He also advertised “therapeutic services” on websites that are known to promote commercial sex.
Griffin Used These Websites to Hire Women
Court documents said that they also put ads on the website rubmaps.com, which has reviews, locations, and other information about massage parlors that offer commercial sex acts.
A Google search done by CBS News shows that the website’s address has changed to a server in the United States. It no longer ends in.com.
Court documents said that Griffin used these websites and chat apps to find and hire women to do these sexual acts. Court papers said that Griffin and the others rented apartments to the workers and charged them rent.
The tweet below confirms the news:
BREAKING: Former San Diego Police detective Peter Griffin pleads guilty to operating massage parlors that offered commercial sex services pic.twitter.com/zuLVPtp3eO
— People’s City Council – San Diego (@pplscouncilSD) April 4, 2023
In a news release, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said,
“The defendant, a former vice detective who once swore to uphold our laws, knew more than most that illegal massage businesses make money by exploiting women for commercial sex.” “We are committed to prosecuting the people who run these illegal businesses and shining a light on the places where sexual exploitation and trafficking still happen.”
Griffin’s lawyer did not respond right away to a request for comment.
The Department of Justice said that Griffin could get up to 30 years in prison. On July 7, he will get his sentence in federal court.
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