Police: Lindon prostitution ring busted
LINDON — Police say a Lindon prostitution ring was a family affair, with long client list that includes a judge and a school administrator.
Police arrested three people, a 58-year-old woman, her granddaughter and a daughter in-law for prostitution crimes in what appears to be a 10-year-old business.
The suspected proprietor of the prostitution ring, Brenda “Joy” Anderson, ran her massage parlor out of her home at 1557 W. 590 North in a fairly new subdivision by Fieldstone Homes, with mostly young families and children.
Anderson was arrested on Tuesday on two charges of exploiting prostitution, third-degree felonies. Sarah Elisabeth Penrod, 27 years old and an in-law to Anderson, is charged with one count of prostitution, a class B misdemeanor; Anderson’s granddaughter Temperance Kay Penrod, 19, is charged with one count prostitution. All three have been released.
The family refused to comment when approached at the home.
“It was startling to us here in Lindon,” said Police Chief Cody Cullimore. “Really that all this went on. This family, this home, received all these visitors’ business (and) there was nothing reported in all this time.”
He said it is very unusual that a family would be involved in this kind of crime.
“There were times that acts were committed involving two (women) and at some of those times it would have been Joy and her granddaughter,” he said.
The Lindon police acted with the Orem Department of Public Safety, the Utah County Sheriff’s Office, the Utah County Major Crimes Task Force and the Sandy City Police Department and served the search warrant Tuesday night. The arrests were a culmination of a month-long investigation into the prostitution operation which was operating under the advertised in-home masseuse business called “A Joyful Massage” and was advertised on Craigslist and on erotic Web sites.
A man sought service at “A Joyful Massage” for a legitimate massage and was offered sexual acts for money, according to police. He reported the instance, and undercover operations verified the report.
“We sent officers on three different occasions,” Cullimore said. “On each occasion those services were stopped for various reasons and recorded.”
According to court records, customers were offered sex acts including oral sex and intercourse. The Joyful Massage company’s Web site states that Anderson has 12 years of experience in massage, that Temperance Penrod has been working for a year and that Sarah Penrod is a new member of the team.
According to the Web site, Anderson “is very talented and will make you melt on the table. Her hands are soft, but they know how to work All the muscles. She knows many types of massage…and will create your Perfect massage each and every time….Using all her years of knoweledge and experience to give you a slow, soft, soothing, sensual and relaxing or therapuetic massage.”
“A Joyful Massage” had a well-recorded client list with more than 1,200 names, services, fees, phone numbers, addresses, professions and documents recording business transactions since 2000. “A Joyful Massage” charged fees of $40 to $150 per act or “service” and attracted an all-male clientele, 20 to 60 years old.
“We had across the board just about every profession listed, a judge, someone high in school administration, not in this area,” Cullimore said. “There are going to be some nervous people tonight.”
Police will be investigating the clients listed and verifying the accuracy of the records.
“These are criminal people and this is a very condemning list if it’s true,” Cullimore said. “There are potentially some problem people there. I don’t foresee ever releasing the list.”
Police seized evidence — massage tables and equipment, sexual paraphernalia, computers, firearms and drug paraphernalia.
Additional charges at this point are very likely, said police.
“There were very few that all they wanted was a massage,” the chief said. “There could seriously be hundreds of charges.”
Police plan on prosecuting whomever they can as a result of the investigation.
Two others were also charged, but not for involvement in prostitution. Anderson’s son, Troy Penrod, 38, was charged with possession of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony, and possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor; and Shalecia Watson, 19, was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, a class B misdemeanor. Neither appeared to be involved in the prostitution operation, said Cullimore.
Most neighbors to Anderson’s home were surprised to know about the true nature of the massage business.
“That actually shocks me because I like Joy. She’s been a good neighbor,” Jason Crockett said. He said he saw all the traffic to her home and just thought they were customers getting a massage.
“I don’t know if I want a prostitution ring behind my house with my kids and everything,” he said. “This just baffles me.”
One neighbor did not want his name mentioned and agreed that Anderson and her family were great neighbors, plowing snow off the neighborhood walks and were very nice.
“I was very leery about what was going on over there,” he said. “It explains why very old men and guys with nice cars were pulling up over there.”
