CBS 5 Investigates With Anna Werner

Brothels Pop Up In San Francisco's Sunset

SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5) ― Police say it's a new trend in sex industry: houses of prostitution setting up shop in quiet residential neighborhoods. One of the most affected neighborhoods is San Francisco's Sunset District.

Across the Sunset, residents complain about the new neighbors moving in.

"I thought it was terrible," said Emily Baldocchi.

Her neighbors on 34th Avenue were prostitutes, working in the house across the street. She watched the spectacle from her dining room window. And the girls, the ones working there, Baldocchi said, "I feel sorry for them because they are so young."

Residents say its all way too close. "It was 2 doors away and my children, and other children on the street play," said neighbor David Dell'Agostino.

"Right here in family neighborhoods, its not the right place," a third Sunset resident said.

"It's growing. It's becoming more and more pervasive," said San Francisco Police Captain Albert Pardini

In this year alone, police have made a series of arrests throughout the Sunset. In April on the 1700 block of 25th avenue, in May on the 1400 block of Irving Street, in September on the 1200 block of 34th Avenue. Nearly two dozen arrests at 9 rental houses so far, with more likely more to come.

But neighbors want to know, what's drawing houses of prostitution into their quiet neighborhoods.

CBS 5 Investigates asked Maxine Doogan who is the end of the Erotic Service Providers' Union, a group organized to represent sex workers in San Francisco.

"There was a big change in the zoning laws around the massage parlors," said Doogan. She said when the city cracked down on brothels masquerading as massage parlors a couple years ago, the brothels moved out.

"We knew it would result in exactly this kind of situation, that would force businesses into residential areas," Doogan said.

Is she right? Joe Schadler of the FBI said, "We have seen the conditions become such in the city that it makes it difficult for these folks to operate massage parlors. And what we're seeing is they've been going out into the residential areas and operating smaller outfits in either private residences or in apartment complexes."

It's easier for them to operate in residential areas. Schadler said, "You're not operating a business, at least officially not operating a business. You don't have to deal with the city; you don't have to deal with permits or inspectors or anything like that."

And they can hide a business, Schadler said, that often involves human trafficking of young girls and women, as San Francisco Police found possibly happening in one of those houses in the Sunset.

"The likelihood of there being a human trafficking aspect to them is very high, very high," Schadler said.

But don't tell that to the Erotic Service Providers Union's Maxine Doogan. She said, "If there are businesses in those neighborhoods it's because there's business there, right? It's like the corner store or the corner dry cleaner."

CBS 5 Investigates pointed out to Doogan, "But the corner store or dry cleaner don't have people show up to have sex in houses."

Doogan responded, "Well you make it sound like that's a bad thing. There's nothing wrong with that." In fact, she claims those brothels actually bring something positive saying, "Clearly they do bring value to the neighborhood, that's why they are there."

When asked about the value those houses bring, she said, "Well you know, those are people's services that they are giving and that they are receiving."

But again, CBS 5 Investigates asked her, how is that of value to the neighborhood? Doogan responded, "Well I think that people who are satisfied sexually are better people, wouldn't you say?"

"Well that's a nice rosy picture she paints, but I don't know if that's the exact truth of the matter, I would have to disagree with that," said San Francisco Police Captain Pardini. "There's no rosy picture there, there's no sexually satisfied community out there, this is people who are being manipulated and forced into these things."

But the house of prostitution across the street from Emily Baldocchi is no more. After the cops came, the prostitutes moved out.

"I saw a truck came and took away a beautiful sofa and one mattress after another," Baldocchi said.

"It's an activity that has no place in a residential neighborhood," Dell'Agostino said. "It's the wrong place for it to be."

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