A roughly yearlong investigation of illicit massage parlors paid off big this week.
Six people have been arrested in Operation Velvet Fury, with three of them — including a Perkins middle-school teacher — pulling the strings for a vast prostitution ring and two others running businesses in Tulsa County.
"We have dealt a significant blow to the illicit sex industry in the state. We believe those arrested are among the top leaders of this organized crime ring," said Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter.
Kakar Chandra, Kacey Williamson and Thomas Johnson were identified as leaders of the prostitution ring and arrested on Thursday. Meri Peterson and Teresa Adams were identified as managers of the Tulsa County massage businesses Bellanova and Tulsa-T and were also arrested.
The sixth person arrested, Gene Gregg, solicited prostitution, but authorities are looking into his role in a separate prostitution ring.
Arrest warrants were issued for Kara Rodriguez and Elizabeth Wyers, identified as managers of Tulsa County massage businesses Barbie and Prestige.
Operation Velvet Fury was a yearlong investigation that followed the organization across several digital platforms. Investigators tracked their activity from a website to a protected subreddit to a mobile app.
The prostitution ring most recently used gaming chat app Discord to communicate with johns and offer them anonymity.
Operation Velvet Fury included the Tulsa and Broken Arrow police departments, Tulsa County District Attorney, Oklahoma Attorney General, and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
Tulsa County Assistant District Attorney Kenneth Elmore said the investigation will continue with a new focus.
"For the johns who have been out there who believe they have operated with anonymity and that their actions will not be discovered and that they have somehow escaped attention from law enforcement, I would say we are coming for you. Bigbob, OKjazz, woodsman — we are coming for you," Elmore said, referencing usernames collected during the investigation.
Elmore said there are "hundreds and hundreds" of johns and hundreds of women working as prostitutes linked to the case. Multiple officials said the women will not be targeted for arrest. Instead, they will be offered referrals to counseling and other resources.
Investigators are also going after landlords and others connected to the operation if they knew what was happening.
"The illicit massage industry has invaded many communities, including ours. It operates in a shadowy network for profit and exploiting women in the process," said Tulsa County District Attorney Steve Kunzweiler.
Authorities estimate there are around 9,000 illicit massage business in the U.S. pulling in $2.5 billion a year.
