For eight years, behind the doors of an ordinary-looking house on
Eastlake Avenue East, an all-female staff provided “spiritual
uplift”—a practice some of the women also called “a rub and a
tug”—to dozens of men every day. Last week, however, Seattle
police brought those services to a halt, raiding the alleged brothel
(which operates under the name Sacred Temple) and detaining 18 women
and two men.
State law is clear: “A person is guilty of promoting prostitution in
the second degree if he knowingly… profits from prostitution.” But
what if “he” is not a he—the exploitative pimp caricature from
cop shows—but a she? And what if she is not a plotting profiteer,
but a cherubic, 43-year-old redhead who speaks in a peppy Scottish
accent and insists that the occasional “release” is simply part of her
method of spiritual healing? Seattle police and state law don’t
distinguish, of course, as it became clear to Rainbow Love—her
legal name—in the late morning of Thursday, May 21, when police
raided her businesses and arrested her at her home. Love agreed to give
The Stranger an exclusive interview about her enterprise and
arrest.
Love was inside her Marysville home with her three sons that
Thursday morning when Seattle Police Department officers, serving a
warrant related to the investigation, rushed her house with guns drawn.
“One of them grabbed my neck and put a gun in my face,” Love
alleges.
Simultaneously, back in Seattle, the doors of a black
van—which had been parked across the street from the Sacred
Temple “healing center” for three days—opened, and police
officers, dressed in black body armor, began pouring out. All of them
carried guns and several of them wielded a black metal battering ram,
multiple witnesses say.
As the men in black charged across the street toward the Sacred
Temple—a large white house with a rainbow-painted fence, between
a palm reader and a massage clinic—squad cars screeched to a
halt, encircling the block.
Police flooded the Sacred Temple’s hallways, ordering men and
women—including one woman in the third trimester of her
pregnancy, according to several Sacred Temple staff members who were
present—to lie facedown and binding their wrists behind their
backs.
“This is a nice little whorehouse they have going on here,” one of
the officers said, according to a Sacred Temple employee. Outside,
witnesses say, police chased a fleeing woman, pulled her down from a
fence, and slammed her to the ground.
Meanwhile, officers also stormed two other businesses operated by
Love, the Moon Temples in Greenwood and Kirkland. An SPD spokesman said
the department could not comment on the tactics SPD used during the
raids.
Within hours, reporters from KOMO 4 News showed up at the Sacred
Temple—and at Love’s front door, where they questioned one of her
teenage children. The news segment said neighbors had complained about
the business, and the eleven o’clock news ran photos of the women
allegedly involved in its operation.
An SPD spokesman said its investigation was based on neighborhood
complaints, but two neighbors contacted by The Stranger following the raid said the Sacred Temple had never caused problems for
them. Two days after the raid, the Sacred Temple’s closest neighbor
told The Stranger, “Nobody that I talked to was upset about it
being illegal, per se, and I know a lot of people here.” Carol, 60, who
wanted to go by her first name only, said she has lived behind the
Sacred Temple building for 20 years and she knew what was happening
inside. She was livid—not about alleged prostitution, but that
armed officers swarmed around her house. “It was really scary. These
buildings are all occupied,” she said, pointing to her home 10 feet
from the Sacred Temple and apartments and condos across the alley.
“Somebody could have walked out of their door, and a cop could have
freaked out and shot them dead.”
“If they thought people in the establishment were armed, I would
understand,” said Carol. According to an SPD spokesman, no weapons were
found during the raid.
The massive show of force—approximately
100 officers
involved in raids and arrests around the Seattle area—was the
culmination of a nearly yearlong investigation by Seattle police.
According to police records, on June 6, 2008, a former receptionist at
the Sacred Temple contacted SPD’s vice division about the business.
Records say the woman told detectives that during a busy day at the
Sacred Temple, her manager told her “she needed to help out by giving
the clients handjobs.” Instead, the woman apparently quit her job and
contacted police. Love denies the woman’s story.
Shortly after the former receptionist contacted SPD, an undercover
female detective interviewed for a job at the Sacred Temple, where,
according to police records, Love told her that clients, called
“seekers,” paid $150 for a session and expected a handjob. Detectives
conducted surveillance of the business for the next 10 months, until
police swarmed the Sacred Temple on May 21—along with the Moon
Temples in Greenwood and Kirkland.
“Oh, look at this mess,” Love said on May 23, walking into the
Sacred Temple to survey the aftermath of the raid. The contents of
suitcases and purses were dumped in the hallway, cups from the kitchen
counter lay on the linoleum floor, and CDs were strewn across the
laundry room. Each small room in the compound contained a pump bottle
of hand sanitizer and a rack of small blue towels. In the middle of each
room: a massage table, which Love called an “alter”—”because when
you get up there, it alters your consciousness.”
Three of the Sacred Temple’s 60 or so employees agreed to speak to
The Stranger about their experiences in the hope of revealing
the heavy-handed nature of SPD’s raid and countering what they see as
misperceptions about their line of work.
Karen, Amanda, and Melissa—not their real names—have all
worked at the Sacred Temple for the last six months. The three women
refer to themselves as “priestesses,” not prostitutes, and range in age
from their early 20s to their 40s. As they chuckled about their
interactions with officers at the scene, a siren went off somewhere
down the block and all three froze up and nervously looked out the
window. They were definitely still shell-shocked from the raid.
The women involved each face misdemeanor charges of prostitution,
which carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Prosecutors may charge Love with promoting prostitution in the second
degree, a crime that carries a maximum penalty of five years in prison
and a $10,000 fine.
Although several of the brothels and massage parlors recently shut
down by Seattle police have reportedly been tied to human trafficking
rings, Karen, Amanda, and Melissa said they weren’t forced or coerced
into their line of work. The women do not appear to be addicted to
drugs, they’re all New Agey hippies—one of them referred to the
Temple as a co-op—and, while Amanda admitted she was once the
victim of sexual abuse, she said it did not play a part in her decision
to work at the Sacred Temple. All the women seem to have been happy at
the Sacred Temple, apparently preferring to provide companionship and
handjobs to their previous work in retail and office jobs.
“This is not at all the stereotype I expected. It’s so much happier
and kinder and friendlier,” Melissa said. “I expected a really catty,
competitive, angry place. I tried working at a strip club once, and it
was really unhappy.” Amanda added, “We’re just normal people out here,
just trying to get by like the rest of you.” At the Sacred Temple, the
women said they were not forced to do anything against their will and
there were only loose guidelines set for sessions with clients. The
“priestesses” said that they were not required to undress and were not
forced to perform sexual acts.
Robyn Friedman, a criminal-defense attorney who sometimes works with
women facing sex-crime charges, told The Stranger that fighting
a case in court can cost as much as $5,000 and could still result in a
criminal record, which in turn “could make it very difficult for them
to get jobs in the future.”
Friedman added that devoting police attention to prostitution drains
resources that could be focused on serious crimes: “To do this roundup
that took so much time, considering the level of the crime, and to use
that many resources to do it, is just ridiculous.” Love claims that
police could have called her and arranged to have an officer come to
her door to serve the arrest warrant, rather than conduct an armed
raid.
The Seattle Police Department could not immediately provide a figure
for how much the raid cost, but according to the department’s pay
scale, a four-hour raid conducted by 100 officers with three to four
years of experience would have cost the department about $15,000 in man
hours. And that’s not including any overtime pay, hours for
surveillance, undercover work, paperwork, or paid hours for trial
testimony related to the yearlong investigation, which undoubtedly cost
much more. In addition, pressing charges and court proceedings require
paying prosecutors and judges.
Todd, 37, told The Stranger he’s been going to the Temple and
similar businesses on a weekly basis since 2003. “I first went for the
usual reasons one might visit a prostitute—I was horny, had no
partner and no success finding one the ‘usual’ ways,” he said in an
e-mail. “I myself am rather unattractive physically, socially awkward,
and have dealt with depression and anxiety my whole life. I don’t make
friends easily, and I haven’t had a lover in 20 years.
“I’ll freely admit I wish I had more friends and a lover or lovers,
and if I did, I probably wouldn’t visit the Temple as often or at all,”
he said. “For some of us, for whatever reasons, those don’t appear to
be options, though.”
Love, who is awaiting charges, hadn’t yet retained legal counsel
when she spoke to The Stranger in the ransacked house. Love said
she believes she’ll be vindicated in the eyes of the law. “I have
nothing to hide.” 
This story has been updated since its original publication.
First of all a big 2 thumbs up To Rainbow for sticking your neck out (even showing your face to the press) regarding this situation. Second, given all the teachers we are laying off and the threat of garbage cans being removed from our parks, is this really the best use of our recources. Seroiusly, $15g in alone in man hours during the raid, plus god knows homany rubs sans tug @ $150 a pop, plus the cost of prosecuting this case, pluss………it goes on like the fuckin energizer bunny. Then there is just the gratuitous show of force here, give people a chance to cooperate for effs sake. This is a ridiculous situation over something that should be legal. If it was legal they could find a place to set up shop where they would be less of a pain in the neighbors ass, not that the claims of neighborhood complaints seem legitimate.
Dominic, how about something similar to what you did with initiative 75? Make the SPD limit their prostitution investigations to allegations of minors and unwilling prostitutes? Maybe establish some criteria of police priorities?
This all just seems like a horrible waste in light of other cuts the city is making, yet we waste our $ on this crap.
First of all 2 thumbs up to Rainbow for not hiding like so many others would do. If these outdated laws and/or the enforcement of them is ever going to change it will take actions like that to do so.
Second, way to go Seattle, we just spent $15g in man hours for the raid alone, plus the money soon to be spent on the up coming persecution, oops, I mean prosecution of this case, plus god knows how many $150/hr. rubs without tugs (what does a lady in this kind of place think when a man they’ve never seen before comes in and turns down a handjob?). What does everyone think, at least $200g for this mess? Yet it is too expensive for the city parks dept. to pick up the trash and we have to lay teachers off, among other cuts! Oh, and there were how many minors and/or exploited foreigners working there?
Dominic, how about something similar to I-75, establishing some standards as to where and when it is OK for the police to investigate prostitution, or better yet, something to help the SPD figure out what their priorities SHOULD be.
This was nothing but a gratuitous show of force on the part of the SPD, in an election year at that. Is that rotten fish I smell. I don’t think that smell is coming from a priestess’ vagina, I think that smell is coming from an campaign headquarters and the SPD.
Way to go Seattle!
Oops, sorry about the double post people, first time poster, I guess it takes a bit for comments to show from a newly registered account.
Instead of paying $15g for the raid, why didn’t they just harass this institution for bribes under the table? C’mon, Seattle, where yo head at?
60 women worked there? They charged $150 an hour. This is not factual but just for argument sake.
Say on average 15 women averaged 4 appointments a day. $9,000.00 a day – $270,000 per month – 3.2 million dollars a year in gross revenue (very conservative estimate). One of the other news organizations reported $300,000 reported gross revenue for the business. Granted it’s gross and not net revenue but that comes out to a massive under reporting of taxable income. It looks like the $15,000 spent on the raid was a drop in the bucket.
Rainbow is GUILTY and you all know it because you were either her “johns” or you were her prostitutes!!! Let’s all get over yourselves now and just admit it, she pushed the envelope too far and got caught! Now she has to pay for her crimes just like everyone else who breaks the law!!!
Buzzkill, my reading of the news story was that Rainbow reported $300k personal income.
Of the $150 session fee, the house got $40. From that, it paid rent, utilities, laundry & cleaning services, advertising and other overhead.
Of the $3.2m you calculated, the house would have gotten about $850k. If rent on the three locations was $20k/month (I’ve heard a rent figure for the largest location; if it’s accurate, 20k is in the right ballpark), that leaves about 600k to account for. Half of that in other expenses is on the higher end of my believability.
@buzzkill
Your “very conservative estimate” is a joke. You’re assuming every girl saw 4 people a day, frankly, many of them would have “retired” and moved on to a real life long ago if that were the case. I’d guess cut your speculation in half, and then based on Six’s numbers, it wouldn’t appear she was hiding all that much, if anything at all.
Dear Six,
You need to read what I wrote over again. I made the distinction of Net vs. Gross Revenue.
In the State of Washington and City of Seattle you pay tax on your gross revenue. It may seem unfair but that’s how it works for business owners here. You don’t get to take deductions on your City and State Business and Occupations Tax.
As far as Federal Tax you would be correct.
There is no way that 60 women working at $150 an hour generated a gross revenue of $300,000.00 in a year. That would mean they had almost no business.
Check out the Washington State Department of Revenue. Rainbow Love would fall under the Services category. It’s taxed at 1.5% of gross revenue. (this is state only) 1.5% of 3.2 million is $48,000.00 in State B&O tax. 1.5% of 300,000 is $4,500.00. Your looking at massive tax evasion on the State level and that doesn’t include City B&O Tax or Federal Income Tax.
Dear stlurk,
Quote:
“Your “very conservative estimate” is a joke. You’re assuming every girl saw 4 people a day”
I made the estimate based on 15 women working. There were 60 employed at Sacred Temple. The estimate was based on 25% of the women employed actually working at all.
@buzzkill
Just based on some comments I’ve seen elsewhere, there was mild in-fighting over the number of practicioners there at one time – ie, not enough customers for all of them. My point is, especially in this economy, they did not have anywhere near 60 people a day walking in. On a good day, they may have had 30. Again, guesses on my part, but much more accurate.
To ????..actually every girl did not get 4 appts. a day…some got none….some 1 and some got more….each practictioner had to build are clients….so we all didn’t
rake in the money!
ex-Goddess-goingIndie!
Ok, I love the place and there is NO SEX in that place. I WISH THERE WAS. But NO way! It is quiet, calming, relaxing. Very nice. But hey, Seattle police must need a SWAT team to raid chicks in skirts! Look out, I here Seattle police are getting ready to Ticket a REAL MAN for jaywalking. Hopefully the TANK they have on order will assist them approach the MAN.
All of a sudden many Seattle residents are asking who is in charge? Do we need a new Mayor? YES! Do we need a new Chief of Police? – YES! Do we need to be more fiscally responsible here? – YES. Does Channel 4 news need a new reporter with brains? YES!
since y’all don’t actually know anything about the numbers in this business (how many seekers each practitioner saw each day, the house’s revenue, the number of clients, etc) please do not guess. it’s laughable. yes, there were sometimes 60 clients. not these days, but it happened.
Quote: from GoddessGoingIndie
“To ????..actually every girl did not get 4 appts. a day…some got none….some 1 and some got more.”
In the example I used it showed 15 out of 60 women working, with 45 having no appointments at all. I used fifteen figuring it was a low number and assuming many more than 15 women made a living at the various Temples. I could change the number to 30 women at all the Temples combined having two appointments a day and still come up with the same gross revenue figure of 3.2 million per year. In this example 50% of the women working would have zero appointments and zero income.
Hopefully the math is starting to make sense.
Quite: stlurk
“Just based on some comments I’ve seen elsewhere, there was mild in-fighting over the number of practicioners there at one time – ie, not enough customers for all of them. My point is, especially in this economy, they did not have anywhere near 60 people a day walking in. On a good day, they may have had 30. Again, guesses on my part, but much more accurate.”
Remember the gross revenue figure is from Seattle, Kirkland and Greenwood combined. That’s an average of 20 a day per venue. Pretty low but lets use your number.
30 customers at all the venues combined is 10 per venue per day. These ladies would have starved but I’ll humor you.
Gross Revenue at 30 customers per day.
$4500 per day – $31,500.00 per week – $126,000.00 per month -$1.5 million per year
Washington State Business and Occupations Tax alone would be 1.5% x $1.5 million.
$22,500.00 per year as apposed to $300,000.00 x 1.5% = $4500.00
You still have State Tax Evasion to the tune of $18,000.00. That does not include City or Federal Tax.
There is also another matter of money laundering. Anything purchased with money from an illegal enterprise is money laundering. You can do math all day and you are still looking at 2 or 3 felony counts. Promoting, Money Laundering and Tax Evasion.
GYMN Quote:
“All of a sudden many Seattle residents are asking who is in charge? Do we need a new Mayor? YES! Do we need a new Chief of Police? – YES! Do we need to be more fiscally responsible here? – YES. Does Channel 4 news need a new reporter with brains? YES!”
It’s all been revealed.
First of all the police don’t make these decisions. It comes from the King County Prosecutors office. His name is Dan Satterburg and it was reported that his Deputy Prosecutor was in charge of the matter.
As far as the number of officers the more police the better. Nobody gets hurt and it’s very difficult for the police to lie. They have no idea if someone has a gun.
The one woman that was grabbed and forced to the ground had run out of the building and was climbing a fence.
As far as fiscal responsibility by the time they are done ceasing assets purchased with illegally earned money and collecting back taxes this operation will bring in far more than $15,000.00
Well folks that’s a whole lot of speculation go-en on here.
Having first hand knowledge of this bizzz, I can tell you budget estimators that you are dreaming…I’m sure Rainbow and her ladies would be estatic over the proposed income numbers mentioned herein…..get real dudes…it aint that
great of a business. Some of the ladies would spend 12 hour days several days in a week with “zero” appointments. This bizzzz doesn’t provide a minimum wage for hours spent sitting around waiting for a client. Be that as it may….there is nothing wrong with providing the level of services outlined at the temple(s)….it aint prostitution if there aint any sex beteeen two people in exchanging for money…simple fact. Crime? perhaps in the eyes of the weak minded…but none of these ladies are under age and none of them are working at this bizzz by force or under the control of a pimp….so get over it….find some meaningful way to spend our tax dollars in rounding up real crime and dangerous people
Quote: stlurk
“On a good day, they may have had 30.”
If we lower the number to 30 that’s still a gross revenue of 1.5 million per year. Remember this number is for all three venue’s combined. That’s only 10 appointments per venue per day.
Quote: General Lee
“Be that as it may….there is nothing wrong with providing the level of services outlined at the temple(s)….it aint prostitution if there aint any sex beteeen two people in exchanging for money…simple fact.”
RCW 9A.88.030
Prostitution.
(1) A person is guilty of prostitution if such person engages or agrees or offers to engage in sexual conduct with another person in return for a fee.
The definition is any sexual contact.
If you read the article they have 3 undercover police officers that paid the $150 and were offered (possibly even received) full release hand jobs. You’ve also got one employee at a private detective agency that paid $150 and did receive a hand job.
In addition you’ve got an undercover female officer applying for a job and being told she had to give hand jobs. And don’t forget the disgruntled receptionist that was told to give a hand job.
There are a ton of reviews on various web sites including national and international sites describing the services down to the smallest detail.
When they are done with the investigation (months from now) they will have a massive witness list that will agree to testify rather than be charged.
You’ve got the owner confessing in this article that sexual release is part of her method of healing.
The “no sex for money” argument is off the table even by the owners definition of services offered.
thank you officer Buzz kill. Now go kill a , ah, er, um, pedestrian.
Swat to arrest a few women in skirts with , oh , yes, dangerous weapons of – massage oil. you’re so right, oil of olay in the eye may blind the office for a few minutes, especially after a one year long investigation! I would have thought they would have known each woman by first name and choice of coffee, decaf or regular. Hell I do and I did it in 2 weeks!
SWAT, SPECIAL WEAPONS AND TACTICS. Automatic firing weapons with banana clips! sTEEL METAL JACKET ROUNDS. Hum, still sounds like WAY TOO MUCH, OVER THE TOP — TAX DOLLAR WASTE. Police chief determines effective use of personnel. NO one else. HE did not do his job. He must be booted OUT!
SAME FOR THE DA! VOTERS NEED TO CLEAN HOUSE NOW!
@buzzkill
I still think you’re way off. First, as you are seeing from other posters, some of these ladies were lucky to get 1-2 per day. The 60 workers you keep referencing – some of these people only worked one or two evenings a week in hopes of extra side money. They didn’t starve because they either had other income, maybe family help, student aid, whatever. I don’t know that for a fact, but that’s usually how it goes. More importantly, you can read from the Seattle Times story that the house only got $40 per visit, so 30 customers per day is only $1200 a day, not $4500. Your dream that this lady was hiding hundreds of thousands of dollars is just not adding up.
Quote: General Lee
“there is nothing wrong with providing the level of services outlined at the temple(s)….it aint prostitution if there aint any sex beteeen two people in exchanging for money…simple fact.”
RCW 9A.88.030
Prostitution.
(1) A person is guilty of prostitution if such person engages or agrees or offers to engage in sexual conduct with another person in return for a fee.
The definition is any sexual contact.
If you read the article they have 3 undercover police officers that paid the $150 and were offered (possibly even received) full release hand jobs. You’ve also got one employee at a private detective agency that paid $150 and did receive a hand job.
In addition you’ve got an undercover female officer applying for a job and being told she had to give hand jobs. And don’t forget the disgruntled receptionist that was told to give a hand job.
There are a ton of reviews on various web sites including national and international sites describing the services down to the smallest detail.
When they are done with the investigation (months from now) they will have a massive witness list that will have people agreeing to testify rather than be charged.
You’ve got the owner confessing in this article that sexual release is part of her method of healing.
The “no sex for money” argument is off the table even by the owners definition of services offered.
The services offered and received were indeed prostitution as defined by Washington State Law.
Quote: stlurk
“More importantly, you can read from the Seattle Times story that the house only got $40 per visit, so 30 customers per day is only $1200 a day, not $4500.”
You don’t understand. The state tax law is that the owner has to pay state Business and Occupation Tax on every penny that comes in the door. Not just what they keep.
That’s the tax law in Washington State.
Buzz, what’s motivating your obsessions here tonight?? You need help. Please consider it.
If you had 6 women working every day, and everyone woman saw 6 seekers, how many people will post hypothetical math on Slog?
@25 Well said. What a bunch of fucking morons.
Anywho…
“And what if she is not a plotting profiteer, but a cherubic, 43-year-old redhead who speaks in a peppy Scottish accent and insists that the occasional “release” is simply part of her method of spiritual healing?”
If you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you. She knew exactly what she was doing. Spiritual healing my hairy ass.
I agree, however, that the raid was a waste of resources.
i’ve known women to report their earnings as misc 1099.
The tax discussions aren’t really valid, since most of the ladies probably didn’t feel comfortable reporting their earnings from something that was illegal.
If anything, your tax debate likens to the debate on legalizing Marijuana. If it was legal, I think most people would be willing to pay taxes on it. Because we have archaic puritan laws on the books, taxes aren’t collected, and instead taxes are wasted enforcing laws on people who really aren’t doing anything wrong.
I know it’s a crime, but if you think against the law always means something’s wrong, you’ve got some deep thinking to do.
These ladies provide a safe form of release, voluntarily, to people who are unable to find the same in the dating world. I don’t see how it’s ok to pay a therapist to be your friend and talk to you when you’re down, but it’s not ok to pay a “release agent” when you’re feeling lonely and need physical emotion.
…meant physical affection. Got a phone call and got distracted.
Make no mistake. What was happening at Sacred Temple was illegal.
However, regardless of whether you are mad about the raid or mad about unpaid taxes, your problem is not with the the people involved (SPD or Rainbow Love). Your problem is the law.
The laws prohibiting prostitution are just are stupid as the laws prohibiting marijuana. They hurt the local economy and reduce tax revenues. They promote unsafe sexual behavior. They encourage exploitation of prostitutes. They promote violence because the civil justice system is not available to prostitutes.
It’s time to take a look at adopting something similar to relevant Nevada state law on the matter.
Once safe prostitution is legalized, the responsible members of the profession will even help the SPD root out the irresponsible members.
Make no mistake. What was happening at Sacred Temple was illegal.
However, regardless of whether you are mad about the raid or mad about unpaid taxes, your problem is not with the the people involved (SPD or Rainbow Love). Your problem is the law.
The laws prohibiting prostitution are just are stupid as the laws prohibiting marijuana. They hurt the local economy and reduce tax revenues. They promote unsafe sexual behavior. They encourage exploitation of prostitutes. They promote violence because the civil justice system is not available to prostitutes.
It’s time to take a look at adopting something similar to relevant Nevada state law on the matter.
Once safe prostitution is legalized, the responsible members of the profession will even help the SPD root out the irresponsible members.
From The Strangers own columnist Mistress Matisse
Times article on “Temple” raid. Take note, ladies. Big = busted in the sex industry. Wish that wasn’t true, but…
4:11 PM May 23rd from web
@27 – That’s what any good accountant will tell you to do!
And what if she is not a plotting profiteer, but a cherubic, 43-year-old redhead who speaks in a peppy Scottish accent and insists that the occasional “release” is simply part of her method of spiritual healing?”
If you believe that I have a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell you. She knew exactly what she was doing. Spiritual healing my hairy ass.
26, you’re pretty right on with these comments. The spiritual angle does come off as an attempt to skirt the law, a preparation to play the “religious freedom” card in court for the inevitable. However, if it were legal it would probably still be their marketing campaign, because, well, apparently there is a market of horny guys with (understandable) hippie girl fantasies that need the illusion of doing something spiritual when they spooge. Hell, if I was gonna pay, I think I would rather go to this sort of place than some high heel wearing bimbo who looks like the chicks in rap video’s.
The worst part of this massage-parlor bust is the name “Sacred Temple” (and “Moon Temple, “Rainbow Love”, etc.)–SO stomach-churningly New Age! If I were a guy in need of a hand job the last place I’d go would be the “Sacred Temple” to get serviced by a “priestess”. Eeewwww.
@30: “However, regardless of whether you are mad about the raid or mad about unpaid taxes, your problem is not with the the people involved (SPD or Rainbow Love). Your problem is the law.”
Sort of. Until we have a fully-staffed and funded police force, our police must make decisions about which crimes to pursue and which to let slide. They have to prioritize. And this time, they prioritized something relatively harmless. 100 officers were involved. How many were on the case a couple days later when two people were stabbed nearby? Oh, it was 2:00 a.m. and there are only so many officers available? It seems that we had a surplus of officers on the day Sacred Temple was raided.
How many of these cops were working on what was supposed to be their day off? Was this something worth asking someone to give up a day off for?
@32: It’s actually amazing that Mistress Matisse herself hasn’t been shut down, especially for her $250 golden showers. You’d think the Health Department would be all over that one.
I am (was) a very occasional visitor to the ST. I am a middle aged married guy with kids. I can afford the 150 bucks. This was a place where you could get an hour of very sensual “massage” and a tug chaser from a very pretty, very pleasant, very naked young woman. It is quite enjoyable. The limits of the activities engaged in there are quite clear. It is safe for all parties, sanitary, clearly consensual, with virtually no chance of transmitting or receiving STD’s. It would appear to be fairly lucrative for the practitioners. The place is quite invisible to those unaware of its existence. I can see no “victims” from the activities taking place here. All in all, it was a fairly innocent activity.
Monogamy for many of us us is a struggle. This place allowed one to color outside the lines a bit, but without emotional unfaithfulness, excessive time expended, disease risk, or costs that damage your family. Some may find this sleazy, I find it a reasonable compromise.
As I walk to my office downtown, I pass every day through an open air drug market on Pike Street, manned by criminals. Violent assault is a regular event in Belltown. Walk through Occidental Square after dark? No fucking way! Gunfire is an everyday experience in parts of our fair city. In most of the city, women are not safe out walking after dark. Is busting this place an appropriate use of city and county law enforcemant resources? My answer will be reflected in my political campaign donations and votes.
Who goan rub mah chowdahstik now, huh?!?!? WHO??!?!?!?
Other than me, of course.
Screw the stupid money math- that’s a lot of fucking jizz!!!
Maybe buzzkill can estimate what the taxes per ounce of jizz should have been.
But did she pay sales tax? If not, throw the book at her.
no sales tax on services…
buzzkill is need of a little release
most places being raided for prostitution are also tied up in drugs, human trafficking, unregistered firearms, and other unpleasantries associated with the criminal vice industry. cops aren’t going to treat you any differently just cause you wreak like patchouli and chant+ring bells and shit while people shoot their load.
and yes, i do support legal prostitution. just part of the territory in the underground economy!!!
@BUZZKILL…..really needs to get a Life!…Your numbers are wayyyyyyy off!….have you ever been to the TEMple!..
and Yes Rainbow paid her tax’……and yes She paid her RENT,and yes She treated every Goddess with Respect!!!!!…
and NO…WE all DIDN’t bring home WADS of Money!…Get A
Life…MAYBE…You should of came to the TEMPLE!…WOAHHH!
Man its pretty sad You were sitting there to reply to every Comment!….that I”M sure Do not even know How many appt.
there WERE!….YOU ARE A BUZZKILL!
Well, sex for money is currently illegal, as are many other things that folks do every day. Skillfully hiding the quid pro quo would have probably saved these folks some trouble. It’s odd that the local government is so taken with this kind of case. Are they that sure they’re saving themselves the embarrassment of the next Eliot Spitzer? Or are they just enraged that there’s a sex act taking place that doesn’t either use condoms or include the chance for an abortion?
I’m going to be attending a convention in Seattle this summer — a place I hadn’t been since childhood. Between paid work and a charity for which I volunteer, I’ve attended conventions, conferences, meetings, workshops and the like in 14 states over the past five years. I had been looking forward to seeing Seattle again. Now I’d be happier if the convention were in any of those other states – even dreary Delaware, which at least has Philly nearby.
What was happening at the Sacred Temple was not a “sex for money” or a prostitution enterprise. It was a place where men, women (yes women!), and couples could go to to become acquainted with unconditional love I am sure some were a bit socially backward perhaps, but others who went there just do not get the kind of loving attention that was offered.
I know, I went there many times a few years ago and I was utterly amazed that such a place could exist, and there is no other like that I know of.
I paid my $150 gratefully, having tried the escort thing in a hotel room, which left me feeling guilty and concerned about disease. I paid $150 for the loving companionship of a women, something I was not very familiar with despite having been married a few times. I paid $150 for the privilege of having someone touch me without being interested in me having sex with them, or marrying them, or having a child with them, or any other of a dozen reasons people usually touch each other.
I paid for companionship and touch. It was an intensely spiritual thing, and I know as I am an ordained minister. It was a highly arousing thing, and I know as I am a heterosexual male.
I did not pay for sex and none was offered. I suppose there were times when I knew the practitioner might go further than the touch, however, I did not go there and that would have been a consensual arrangement which I am SURE is not illegal or I would have been jailed many times, many years ago.
Oh, I had an occasional orgasm. How could I not? The sessions were very arousing and triggered all kinds of libidinal juices.
But I never paid for any sex, of any kind, nor did I expect an orgasmic response, nor was I promised, nor was it even hinted at.
The last time I researched the law, as I was a safe home operator and a domestic violence volunteer for many years, prostitution is a sex for money agreement. There was no such agreement in my business with the Sacred Temple.
I am confused, what is all the talk about legalizing prostitution in reference to this case? There was no prostitution involved.
May I repeat myself? Prostitution is NOT what was going on in the Sacred Temple.
Having been there…. I for the life of me don’t know who woulda paid $150 except for 3 of them there…. Amanda was pretty hot, just needed to be cleaned up a bit… Chassie was pretty hot….. way more than rubbing and tugging going on in the front for a greek pounding show!!!! Both ways offered and agreed… Rainbow looks like Porky Pigs sister…..
@38: I kind of doubt if paying someone to piss on you is illegal, and last I checked it’s not a sexual act (even if some people get off on it). And piss is usually aseptic and unlikely to transmit any diseases when it’s from a healthy person, so I doubt it’s a serious health concern. Probably isn’t in the health code or anything.