BY TIM WYATT
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS - Kyong "Jackie" Roberts came to America as the Korean bride of a U.S. serviceman more than 20 years ago and climbed from dress shop owner to modeling studio proprietor to queen of Asian brothels.
Her last entrepreneurial efforts made her a 52-year-old Dallas millionaire.
But her empire tumbled in a matter of hours in an early morning raid last summer. Virtually every asset she had amassed was either locked down or carted off by police and federal agents - including more than a dozen Korean women who had been smuggled into the United States as stock in her brothels.
The rise and fall of the Dallas madam through court records and interviews offer a rare glimpse into the lucrative underworld of international recruiters and brothel owners who reap millions off indentured prostitutes.
In the past year, large-scale raids and indictments have unraveled rings in Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Dozens of federal and state criminal indictments have followed, including charges of forced labor, aggravated promotion of prostitution, engaging in organized crime, money laundering and illegal bulk cash shipments back to Korea.
In Dallas, authorities say the alliance between feds and local police has put a major dent in prostitution operations. In the last year: The effort tripled the average number of charges filed in Dallas County against pimps or madams. And five felony indictments were filed in federal courts. At least 15 spas have been shuttered.
Millions in assets have been seized, including about $1.5 million in cash, cars and commercial real estate from one set of raids in August alone.
Kevin Kozak, acting special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations in Los Angeles, said the effort is part of an "endgame" to completely shut down the Korean sex industry in the U.S.
"When you look at the enterprise, it's a very dark underworld with some very violent predatory criminals," he said.
Phillip Robertson, a Dallas lawyer who defends spa owners and workers on a variety of legal troubles, said the yearlong campaign has been impressive, "and the pressure has been turned up on those who they see as big players in these businesses instead of just the worker bees."
"But these people are not pimps," he said. "They don't deal in weapons or violence, drugs or alcohol. And I haven't come across anyone who said they were forced to whore, either."
Koreans made up at least three out of four people charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution in Dallas County last year. With few exceptions, court records show that operators charged in the series of raids used a smuggling pipeline to supply fresh stock in the prostitution trade.
Federal indictments have focused on issues of human trafficking, forced labor and illegal bulk cash shipments back to Korea. Four Korean brothel owners - including Roberts - have pleaded guilty to charges linked to their operations, such as cash smuggling or trying to avoid reporting large deposits at banks. Two others await trial on charges of forced labor and harboring illegal immigrants for prostitution.
"This was clearly the largest prostitution operation I've ever been a part of," said Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, a Dallas police division commander who oversees vice operations. "We've shut down a number of them, and there's going to be more."
Estimates vary, but there may be another 45 spas in operation in Dallas alone.
In late 2004, ICE agents and Dallas vice officers found an informant with accurate, inside knowledge of how women were recruited in Korea to work in Dallas brothels.
For fees averaging $15,000 apiece, smugglers flew the women to Canada and Mexico, then walked them over the border into the U.S.
Brothel owners operating as massage parlors, spas, baths, saunas, modeling studios or nightclubs assumed the women's smuggling debts, often taking their passports as a guarantee that they would be paid back.
In March 2005, the ICE informant reported that Sung Bum Chang and his wife, Hyang, ran such an operation out of Club Wa on Walnut Hill Lane.
According to court records, women were provided as "party guests for businessmen and other individuals," with private party rooms at $100 a girl. Sex was not guaranteed. ICE agent Darrell Stanley explained in an affidavit that a 67-year-old madam negotiated further favors with customers.
"Chang obtains his illegal Korean females by contacting a man known as `David' . . . who acts as a broker for the transportation and illegal entry," Stanley wrote.
The Dallas Morning News
DALLAS - Kyong "Jackie" Roberts came to America as the Korean bride of a U.S. serviceman more than 20 years ago and climbed from dress shop owner to modeling studio proprietor to queen of Asian brothels.
Her last entrepreneurial efforts made her a 52-year-old Dallas millionaire.
But her empire tumbled in a matter of hours in an early morning raid last summer. Virtually every asset she had amassed was either locked down or carted off by police and federal agents - including more than a dozen Korean women who had been smuggled into the United States as stock in her brothels.
The rise and fall of the Dallas madam through court records and interviews offer a rare glimpse into the lucrative underworld of international recruiters and brothel owners who reap millions off indentured prostitutes.
In the past year, large-scale raids and indictments have unraveled rings in Dallas, Los Angeles and San Francisco.
Dozens of federal and state criminal indictments have followed, including charges of forced labor, aggravated promotion of prostitution, engaging in organized crime, money laundering and illegal bulk cash shipments back to Korea.
In Dallas, authorities say the alliance between feds and local police has put a major dent in prostitution operations. In the last year: The effort tripled the average number of charges filed in Dallas County against pimps or madams. And five felony indictments were filed in federal courts. At least 15 spas have been shuttered.
Millions in assets have been seized, including about $1.5 million in cash, cars and commercial real estate from one set of raids in August alone.
Kevin Kozak, acting special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigations in Los Angeles, said the effort is part of an "endgame" to completely shut down the Korean sex industry in the U.S.
"When you look at the enterprise, it's a very dark underworld with some very violent predatory criminals," he said.
Phillip Robertson, a Dallas lawyer who defends spa owners and workers on a variety of legal troubles, said the yearlong campaign has been impressive, "and the pressure has been turned up on those who they see as big players in these businesses instead of just the worker bees."
"But these people are not pimps," he said. "They don't deal in weapons or violence, drugs or alcohol. And I haven't come across anyone who said they were forced to whore, either."
Koreans made up at least three out of four people charged with aggravated promotion of prostitution in Dallas County last year. With few exceptions, court records show that operators charged in the series of raids used a smuggling pipeline to supply fresh stock in the prostitution trade.
Federal indictments have focused on issues of human trafficking, forced labor and illegal bulk cash shipments back to Korea. Four Korean brothel owners - including Roberts - have pleaded guilty to charges linked to their operations, such as cash smuggling or trying to avoid reporting large deposits at banks. Two others await trial on charges of forced labor and harboring illegal immigrants for prostitution.
"This was clearly the largest prostitution operation I've ever been a part of," said Deputy Chief Julian Bernal, a Dallas police division commander who oversees vice operations. "We've shut down a number of them, and there's going to be more."
Estimates vary, but there may be another 45 spas in operation in Dallas alone.
In late 2004, ICE agents and Dallas vice officers found an informant with accurate, inside knowledge of how women were recruited in Korea to work in Dallas brothels.
For fees averaging $15,000 apiece, smugglers flew the women to Canada and Mexico, then walked them over the border into the U.S.
Brothel owners operating as massage parlors, spas, baths, saunas, modeling studios or nightclubs assumed the women's smuggling debts, often taking their passports as a guarantee that they would be paid back.
In March 2005, the ICE informant reported that Sung Bum Chang and his wife, Hyang, ran such an operation out of Club Wa on Walnut Hill Lane.
According to court records, women were provided as "party guests for businessmen and other individuals," with private party rooms at $100 a girl. Sex was not guaranteed. ICE agent Darrell Stanley explained in an affidavit that a 67-year-old madam negotiated further favors with customers.
"Chang obtains his illegal Korean females by contacting a man known as `David' . . . who acts as a broker for the transportation and illegal entry," Stanley wrote.
