Massage Parlor That Housed Prostitutes Awaits Appellate Ruling

The California Court of Appeal will hear arguments today that could determine the fate of the Lake Forest Body Centre, a massage parlor that has been the target of a yearslong effort by the city to shut down the establishment after undercover police invesigations revealed it was a front for prostitution.

Attorney Jeff Dunn, who represents Lake Forest, will argue the Lake Forest Body Centre violated state and local nuisance laws that prohibit lewd conduct at massage parlors.

"This is a clear violation of the state's Red Light Abatement act," Dunn said.

Former owner Charlie Abujudeh lost an appeal earlier this year revoking his city license to operate a massage parlor, Dunn added.

Roger Diamond, who represents another former owner, Christine Vo, said the Body Centre is never going to reopen, but the fight now is about the $25,000 fines levied against Vo, her son-in-law, Abujudeh, and Vo's daughter, Julie Ho.

Diamond's defense involves a legal principle barring plaintiffs from bringing similar claims when they failed the first time.

Diamond will argue that when the landlord of the business at 23331 El Toro failed to get a court ruling evicting Lake Forest Body Centre, it should have prevented the city from pursuing the nuisance claim.

The city's attorneys will argue the city had nothing to do with the eviction attempt. Orange County Superior Court Judge David Chaffee agreed with city officials and ordered the closure of the massage parlor in February of 2010.

"We're arguing Judge Chaffee was wrong to let the second case go forward," Diamond said. "The city was obviously in cahoots with the landlord."

Orange County sheriff's investigators conducted three stings at the Body Centre in recent years. They testified they were solicited for prostitution.

Diamond downplayed those allegations. "It wasn't like an ongoing whorehouse," he said.

—City News Service