Two Women Arrested In Connection With Brothel In Palm Desert

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department arrested two women, accused of operating a brothel in Palm Desert.

The two women suspected of operating the brothel are not Coachella Valley residents, one being from El Monte, and the other from Los Angeles.

The two were arrested Wednesday, but they quickly posted bail and as of Thursday morning, were released.

People in the area say they’re surprised to find out they were living near an alleged brothel.

“Well, I would never expect anything like that. Yeah, I mean, it’s a nice neighborhood you know, it’s very, very nice and calm, I think… I’m relaxed here and everything, comfortable, and to see things like that it’s like, you know, throws us off.”

The business is located in the 74000 block of Alessandro drive… named “AZ Spa.”

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department says they’ve been receiving unspecified complaints about the location since last year. 

Wednesday afternoon, several agencies including the Sheriff’s Department, the Special Enforcement Team and Riverside County Anti-human Trafficking Task Force, served a search warrant as part of a human trafficking investigation.

“Deputies from the Palm Desert station responded to the spa to serve a search warrant during that search warrant they located two females that were at the location and evidence that a brothel had been operated out of that location.” says Sgt. Deirdre Vickers, with the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department. 

It’s unclear if this is a case of human trafficking, however running a brothel is illegal in the state of California.

“The investigation related to this spa is ongoing. So if there are any others in the area, I’m sure that the deputies would gladly take any type of information related to that.”

Again, the investigation is ongoing, and if anyone has more information on this case, contact the Riverside County Sheriff’s Department.