The business sign above Rainbow Spa on East Tudor Road has been removed following the arrest of a woman allegedly practicing prostitution out of the small space, where, according to Anchorage police, sexually exploited women were living.
Taped to the spa's front door is a Municipality of Anchorage notice to vacate. "Do not enter. Unsafe to occupy," the sign says. The spa is in a strip mall on the 2400 block of Tudor, just east of Lake Otis Parkway.
In mid-September, police raided Rainbow Spa and arrested one woman for practicing prostitution. Anchorage police Sgt. Kathy Lacey said that woman will likely never be seen again. She'll leave the state, Lacey said.
Of the three women present at the time of the raid, one had a New York ID and another had a Hawaii ID. That's "really common," Lacey said, as women "on the circuit" are often brought north from other states.
The day prior to the Rainbow Spa bust, police arrested a woman at World Spa on Northern Lights Boulevard for practicing prostitution.
The Anchorage Police Department's larger goal consists of disrupting sex trafficking organizations. Lacey contends the term "prostitution" is outdated, as it implies a straightforward business arrangement "when it's actually exploitive."
The women work seven days a week; all their earnings go to someone else, the sergeant said.
"I realize evicting people who live in the business is displacement, but at some point we need to disrupt this cycle of the owners making money off the exploitation of women," Lacey said.
The spas -- only two of many in Anchorage police believe are fronts for prostitution -- were targeted because of complaints. Tipsters told police there may have been underage girls working at World Spa. Police didn't find any, however.
As for Rainbow, other business owners who shared the strip mall with the spa called police to complain multiple times. And it's not the first time they'd done so. This is the eighth time police have arrested someone working at the spa since 2002, Lacey said.
In July 2011, police raided the spa, then known as Tropic Massage. Two women were arrested. One woman was charged with practicing prostitution while 60-year-old Dong Ki was charged with maintaining a place for prostitution and resisting arrest. Ki tried to run out the business's back door when police showed up with a search warrant, according to an Anchorage Daily News story.
The man who has owned the strip mall since 2002 was interviewed by police three years ago. Lacey said he was informed about the illegal activities happening at the spa. He allegedly told police he'd evict the tenants.
Lacey said the owner was interviewed again after the recent raid, during which he told police the previous occupants found new tenants for him, and he required a $10,000 deposit to "preclude any illegal activity." He allegedly said he'd evict the newer tenants.
Attempts to contact the owner of the strip mall were unsuccessful.
Alex Ramos at Ready Made Dinners, which shared a wall with Rainbow, said he and other businesses near the spa have complained to the landlord, telling him about their suspicions for two years.
"We kept telling him it's affecting the businesses and the community," Ramos said. "I'm glad it's gone. It has already come back once (under a different name), but I don't think they will again."
Holding the owner of the strip mall responsible for the crimes is difficult, Lacey said.
"We get this constant revolving cast of characters," she said.
Her job at this point, she said, is making the landlords of both strip malls aware of what's going on. If the owners continue to disregard the warnings of Anchorage police, the city can go after those properties, she said.
"Saying they don't know but continuing to rent to massage parlors, where they can just change the name and bring in different women, is not a good enough excuse."