Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Former Erie County District Attorney John Flynn says when it comes to suspected prostitution at spas like Little Foot Spa in Cheektowaga, his office did not investigate sex crimes. He says, instead, the focus was on other matters.
"We never, in eight years, actually had a sex crime investigation here in Erie County that was prosecuted by my office," explained Flynn in an interview with WBEN. "What the angle that we looked at and investigated, along with the federal government, was the labor law aspects of it, prosecuting someone for potential labor violations, human trafficking."
Flynn says there were some cases involving massage parlors, which involved people crossing state or national lines. He says those types of cases happened two or three times a year.
Investigating cases like this is challenging on a number of fronts.
"First of all, there's a language barrier a lot of times, where a lot of individuals who are involved in human trafficking, aren't from this country, and they don't speak English very well," Flynn explained.
Another issue: People don't want to cooperate with police.
"If you're talking about young women, they're scared," Flynn said. "They have been forced into this country and forced into a situation that they don't want to be in, sometimes far from home. They're scared, and a lot of times, in my office, and my investigators and my lawyers try to convince or portray themselves as victims, say to them, 'We're not looking to prosecute you for a sex crime.' We're looking for the ones who are the ringleaders, the ones who are the human traffickers, the ones who may have brought you into this country illegally, or for an illegal purpose."
Flynn calls two such investigations in a year's span a fluke.
"I don't remember seeing in particular spas having a problem," Flynn recalled.
He does recall a massage parlor case early in his tenure, but again, the focus was on human trafficking and labor law violations.
