Ventura County woman accused of running brothels disguised as beauty spas

Melody Gutierrez

24 November 2024 at 4:00 pm·1-min read

PIRU, CA - JULY 13: Ventura County Sheriff Bill Ayub addresses a press conference after Ventura County Sheriff's Search and Rescue dive team located a body Monday morning in Lake Piru as the search continued for 33-year-old "Glee" actress Naya Rivera after her 4-year-old son was found alone on a boat she rented last Wednesday. Rivera rented the pontoon boat and had been swimming with her son who was the last one to see her before she went missing. The boy got back into the boat after a swim but his mother did not follow. Lake Piru on Monday, July 13, 2020 in Piru, CA. (Al Seib / Los Angeles Times) — Ventura County sheriff's detectives arrested Amanda Xia for selling sex services to customers at Swan Spa in Thousand Oaks. (Al Seib/Los Angeles Times)

Ventura County sheriff's detectives arrested a woman who they say operated brothels disguised as spas.

Detectives began looking into Swan Spa in Thousand Oaks this year after suspecting employees were selling sex services to customers. Spa owner Amanda Xia, 44, was arrested Nov. 13 on suspicion of pimping and money laundering.

Xia owns three other businesses advertised as massage and wellness centers, which the Sheriff's Office said were also operating as commercial sex establishments.

"Detectives were able to positively identify multiple male individuals suspected of purchasing commercial sex at each of the four locations under investigation," the department said in a news release.

The other businesses were Star Spa in Newbury Park, Victoria Spa in Lake Forest and Four Seasons Spa in Lake Forest, according to the sheriff's department.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

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