Silicon Valley Bordello Bust

Date: Tuesday, May 21, 2002 9:50 PM

*** H-1B NEWSLETTER ***

Get the Facts on H-1B at
www.ZaZona.com

Many foreign students come to the US on student visas (usually J-1) and
then
get a company to convert them to H-1Bs. I was curious who might sponsor
some
of the students in the article below so I searched the LCA Database
www.ZaZona.com/LCA-Data

I found some potential sponsors for them:

ACADEMY OF MASSAGE THERAPY
AMERICAN AND EUROPEN MASSAGE CLINIC
ARLIMGTON SCHOOL OF MASSAGE
Atlanta School of Massage
BOCA MASSAGE AND HEALTH CENTER
CENTRAL FLORIDA SCHOOL OF MASSAGE THERAPY
Clearwater Chiropractic & Massage
KNEADING HANDS THER MASSAGE
MASSAGE AMERICA
Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado
MASSAGESPECIALISTS.COM
MASTERPIECE MASSAGE REHAB
Minneapolis School of Massage and Bodywork
PHOENIX THERAPEUTIC MASSAGE COLLEGE
Pride Massage
Vi's Therapeutic Massage Center

http://www.nypost.com/cgi-bin/printfriendly.pl

ANOTHER BUST IN SILICON VALLEY

By BEN SILVERMAN

May 20, 2002 -- DotcomScoop.com

PALO Alto, Calif. is home to Stanford University and the Sandhill Road
venture capital gang. Hewlett-Packard and Sun Microsystems are among the
tech companies that have their corporate headquarters there. But last
week
an event in Palo Alto shook the very foundation of the tech industry: a
prostitution bust.

On Saturday, May 11, the Palo Alto Police Department shutdown three
"Oriental massage" parlors that the cops say were fronts for bordellos.
The
establishments employed young Chinese women on student visas who
normally
worked 12-hour days satisfying customers' sexual needs.

The bust follows a similar one just up the road in Redwood City. While
the
cops' actions made headlines locally, it also sent a shockwave through a
group of tech workers.

"It was a weekly affair for me," said a 46-year-old tech executive who
we'll
call "Joe." "I'm divorced and I work long hours. I never get to meet
people,
and I have sexual urges just like any other man," Joe told The Post via
e-mail.

Joe is not alone. Lead investigator, Sgt. Lacey Burt of the Palo Alto
PD,
said that the majority of the Johns were white, middle-aged men.

"They were well-dressed and drove nice cars like BMWs, Lexuses and
SUVs,"
Burt told The Post.

"Joe" says that since the bust, a private e-mail list has cropped up
informing former patrons of the bordellos where to look for sex.

The Post was able to view e-mails from the list, which according to its
founder has over 100 members. Most suggestions were for Valleyites to
trek
to San Francisco or simply, as one person put it, "bite the bullet and
go to
Vegas." Some of the list members say that bordellos, utilizing a massage
parlor as a front, still operate down the road in Mountain View, but
warned
that it would be wise to steer clear of them considering recent actions
by
local cops.

The Post spoke to employees of at least a dozen tech firms who said they
frequented the establishments. Most said they did so because of the long
work hours and high male to female ratio in Silicon Valley.

"I've lived here for 12 years and finding a date is almost impossible,"
said
a tech executive who asked to be referred to as "Fred." "I am not saying
I'm
gorgeous, but I'm well-educated, wealthy and decent looking. I shouldn't
have to pay for sex, but I do."

Burt dismissed any notion that the bordellos were symptomatic of
anything
going on in The Valley and said it's a nationwide problem that plagues
many
communities. She hopes that the Johns, some of whom will be contacted by
the
police, will think twice before going to such lengths for sex.

"They need to think about the big picture. The women are being used and
they
don't know any better. It's a sad situation."

Patrick Toland, an employee at tech firm TopMoxie, said his office
window is
directly across the street from one of the recently busted bordellos.
Toland, who is married and never patronized the bordellos, said he and
his
co-workers first became aware of the parlor just a few weeks before it
was
shutdown. In the days since, Toland said customers still come by only to
walk away disappointed. He attributes the presence of the bordellos to
the
economic decline in Silicon Valley.

"It's really fascinating to me from a business standpoint," Toland told
The
Post. "It shows how far the real estate market has dropped. One or two
years
ago, these types of businesses would have never been able to afford the
rent. The market has just bottomed out and now they can afford it,
though."

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