A local teen said he wanted to make people aware of what’s going on in his neighborhood after he filed a report with law enforcement alleging he was fondled against his will and then had money stolen from his wallet at a massage parlor just blocks from his house.
The 18-year-old victim drove to a local massage parlor down the street from where he lives with his family, including younger siblings, he said.
After a tough week of work as a technician at a car dealership where he has to carry around a lot of equipment, he said his back was giving him trouble and his mom suggested he go get a massage at the local spot. It happened to be on Valentine’s Day.
The place was a recommendation from one of his mom’s friends, he said. The Signal is not identifying the massage parlor because the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station’s investigation into the report is still pending.
The teen said he believed he was paying $40 for a roughly 40-minute massage, and he was told to leave his belongings in a room, and then went into the room where he began receiving his massage.
About 10 minutes into the massage, the masseuse started to disrobe while he was lying face down, he said, so he didn’t realize what was going on at first.
Then she told him to turn around and, when he looked up, he realized she was naked. And then she grabbed his hand while reaching for his groin, he said, and told him, “You can have all this for $160.”
“I said, ‘No, no, no, I’m just here for a regular back massage,’” he said he responded, but she was persistent, and that’s when he said he decided to leave.
He checked his wallet when he got to the car and said there was about $200 that he had in there as leftovers from paying for classes he was taking, which was now missing.
“I went home, and I told my mom, and my mom was like, ‘No, no, no, let’s go back there, we’re gonna go see if we can get your money back,’” he recalled.
When the two returned to the massage parlor, he said the woman he had spoken to earlier was now acting as though she didn’t understand what he was saying, and then went back behind the lobby and locked the door.
He said while he and his mom were waiting in the lobby, they began to hear loud moaning, and both became suspicious that it wasn’t a typical massage parlor.
The woman came back out eventually and said there were no refunds. When the victim said he was calling the police, he then saw the woman he was talking to leave out the back and she never returned.
SCV Sheriff’s Station deputies responded to the call, which was designated as nonemergent, and after the deputies arrived, he said he was left frustrated by the legal remedies available.
He said he was told there was no physical evidence of a sexual assault or harassment, but he would be able to file the theft report, which he did.
A station official said Monday the report was designated as a theft with suspicious circumstances, and that a note was made in the file to investigate a report of a sexual battery.
The incident is currently with the station’s Detective Bureau for investigation, according to Deputy Kabrina Borbon, spokeswoman for the station.
The teen is advocating for people to be aware of their surroundings and exercise caution.
“It’s not more about the money, it’s more about the scenario with them touching me sexually — and then, they’re going to look at it like something normal, right? So that’s why I wanted to (tell the story),” he said, adding one of his siblings could have gone in there.
He said he also didn’t want that type of place in his neighborhood.
Station officials said no arrests have been made yet in connection to the station’s investigation.
