As law enforcement is cracking down on human trafficking in Spring and Klein, Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman said new facilities that are advertised as massage parlors, but instead harbor prostitution, are popping up along places like FM 2920.

“Our undercover guys are working to make sure everything is legitimate,” Herman said. “What we’re finding is that [prostitution facilities] are migrating under different names to different areas, such as FM 2920.”

In the last three years, the constable’s Regulatory Enforcement Unit, which monitors illegal sexually oriented activity in the area, has filed 796 charges against sexually oriented businesses disguised as massage parlors.

Since September 2016, a total of seven charges have been filed against two different massage parlors on
FM 2920, according to county statistics. A total of seven massage parlors on FM 2920 were investigated in 2016.

In February, the Harris County Commissioners Court approved funding for 32 new constable’s officers, Herman said, in part to tackle prostitution.

Herman said law enforcers often recognize a suspicious facility through complaints from residents.

His office also conducts reverse prostitution stings, which include using females as decoys and arresting the perpetrators.

“We receive complaints from the community regarding the massage parlor and spas, that they see suspicious things—lights on at 10 o’clock at night and people coming and going,” Herman said. “They report it to us, and in turn we investigate and send undercover officers as ‘customers,’ and at some point there is an arrangement for sexual acts or services.”

He said the facilities with prostitution activity are rife with property crimes as well, such as purse snatching and drug use.

The president of the Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce, Myeshi Briley, said she has noticed more massage parlors—known facilities for sex trafficking—opening in the area and staying open late into the night.

“I’m very observant in wanting to see businesses succeed,” she said. “But you start to notice when there’s something of danger in your area, and that’s why we created Coffee with a Cop.”

At the January Coffee with a Cop—a monthly meeting hosted by the Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce at McDonald’s on FM 2920—Harris County Precinct 4 Captain Ronnie Glaze led a discussion about the prostitution problem in Spring and Klein.

“Our regulatory unit is busy 24 hours a day” trying to check the legitimacy of these businesses, Glaze said.

Herman said his office at times will work with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the FBI and the Harris County sheriff’s office to crack down on prostitution.

Briley said she believes education is the key to shutting down sexually oriented businesses.

“It’s important to educate everyone,” she said. “If you don’t educate people, the same thing will continue to happen. The goal is to get rid of it.”