CALIFORNIA
Peter Griffin, 79, a retired San Diego police officer and former vice detective, attorney and private investigator, was sentenced on Friday to 33 months in prison, officials announced Monday.
Griffin operated five California and Arizona-based illicit massage businesses that profited for years from prostitution under the guise of offering therapeutic massage services.
Griffin’s three female co-defendants, Kyung Sook Hernandez, 59, Yu Hong Tan, 57, and Yoo Jin Ott, 46, who managed the different illicit massage businesses in Griffin’s network, were each sentenced to six months in prison and one year of supervised release, officials stated.
According to court documents, Griffin, Hernandez, Tan and Ott owned and operated “Genie Oriental Spa,” “Felicita Spa,” “Blue Green Spa,” “Maple Spa” and “Massage W Spa,” located in the greater San Diego area and in Tempe, Arizona, between 2013 and August 2022.
The criminal scheme included incorporating their businesses with state agencies, managing the businesses’ illicit proceeds, advertising commercial sexual services online, recruiting and employing women to perform commercial sex services and benefiting financially from the illegal enterprises.
“Defendant Griffin – a former vice detective who once took an oath to uphold our laws – is being held accountable for abusing his position of authority and, with his co-defendants, operating illicit massage businesses and profiting by exploiting women for commercial sex,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Peter Griffin used the skills he developed as a vice detective — and his status as a former law enforcement officer — to operate a network of illicit massage businesses and evade law enforcement,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division. “Thanks to this multiagency investigation, Griffin has been held accountable for his nearly decade-long criminal scheme.”
“Illicit massage businesses hide in plain sight in many communities in America, including our district,” said U.S. Attorney Tara K. McGrath for the Southern District of California. “Operators of these businesses often profit through exploitation. For years, Peter Griffin used his connections as a former police officer for his own criminal profiteering.”
“Peter Griffin abused and exploited vulnerable women by pressuring them into commercial sex for profit while taking advantage of his status in the community,” said Special Agent in Charge Chad Plantz of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) San Diego Field Office. “This sentence sends a clear message to those who mistakenly believe they can get away with such repugnant crimes.”
Through this scheme, the defendants exploited the employees, primarily vulnerable women from Korea and China; pressured the employees to perform commercial sex services; and made substantial financial profits from the illegal commercial sexual activity, according to authorities.
When one employee initially refused to perform commercial sexual services, one of the defendants instructed her to “leave [her] morals in China” in order to “make the customers happy.”
Griffin, who left the department in 2002, previously worked as a detective with the Vice Operations Unit of the San Diego Police Department, a unit tasked with dismantling the very businesses he operated and promoted for personal profit.
Throughout the nine-year criminal scheme, Griffin used the experience and skills he acquired through his work as a vice detective – skills honed by his education as an attorney and work as a private investigator – and his reputation as a former police officer to help the businesses evade law enforcement; conceal evidence; pressure employees to engage in commercial sex; maintain a façade of legitimacy; and thwart regulatory inspections, investigations and any official action against the businesses.
Griffin repeatedly used his status as a former law enforcement officer to falsely assure local authorities that his businesses would be operated legitimately.
On one occasion, Griffin flashed his badge to a local officer responding to a citizen complaint regarding one of his illicit businesses.
Additionally, Griffin told an employee that he was a former police officer and instructed her not to “open [her] mouth” about working at the illicit massage business.
Griffin’s co-defendants similarly informed employees of Griffin’s law enforcement background and his resulting “connections” and promised he would protect the illegal businesses from law enforcement detection.
Griffin also abused resources he had access to through his private investigator license to obtain information on customers and employees on behalf of the illicit massage businesses.
HSI, IRS-CI and the San Diego Human Trafficking Task Force, a regional, multi-agency effort led by the California Justice Department dedicated to supporting survivors and holding traffickers accountable, led the investigation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Jill Streja for the Southern District of California, Trial Attorney Caylee Campbell of the Criminal Division’s Money Laundering and Asset Recovery Section and Trial Attorney Leah Branch of the Civil Rights Division’s Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit prosecuted the case.
Anyone who has information about human trafficking should report that information to the National Human Trafficking Hotline toll-free at 1-888-373-7888, which is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
For more information about human trafficking, please visit www.humantraffickinghotline.org.