MSNBC Undercover: Sex Slaves in America

Just blocks away from some of the most exclusive retail stores in downtown San Francisco, inspectors wait for the team to assemble before returning for a third surprise inspection of CEO Health Club, which brazenly advertises its sexual services online.

Inspector Ed Walsh: The Internet is saying that one of the John's went on there and they said that they had a good time at this location.

Inspectors must be careful not to tip off the business, so officers hang back around the corner while their decoy gains access by posing as a john.

Police: The whole idea is once Joe gets up there, he's going to come out the back stairs.

Remember, like most of the previous businesses, an elaborate network of hidden cameras survey the streets.

Walsh: The owner has put a camera right above the point of sale.

Officers say, it's a way for owners to monitor the women who work for them and warn them about police.

Walsh: They're trying to get in, let's go, let's go.

When the decoy gets buzzed in, he holds the door and investigators move in.

Dr. Ojo: Where are we at?

Walsh: 130 Bush, CEO Health Club.

Dr. Ojo and Inspector Walsh say that CEO health club, with its gold mirrored elevator and high priced real estate, is one of the city's most profitable parlors.

Walsh: It’s for CEOs. Hi, can you come out please? Thank you.

Inside the club, it's pandemonium as girls hustle into the halls and shocked clients hide in their rooms.

Walsh: You have a masseuse in here?

Police bang on the doors notifying the johns that they have been caught in a city Health Inspection.

Walsh: How many girls you got here tonight?

Owner: Seven

Walsh: Seven?

The manager tries to stall Ed from entering one of the rooms. Remember, just months ago, CEO was fined for having six women wearing lingerie and clear plastic heels and for employing an unlicensed masseuse.

Walsh: She was crying because she was, she didn't want to be there; her father was sick. She was from Korea and the only reason she's here is because her father's sick, and she's trying to make money, and that she doesn't want to do this. My lot in life was to be a, be a piano teacher.

That woman-who cried when investigators interviewed her, has since disappeared.

Officers catch  five girls and three johns. There are six rooms with tables that don't have the normal accoutrements of a legitimate massage.

Walsh: You call this a massage establishment?

The girls quickly throw on their white lab coats to hide skimpy attire. They wait nervously while officers inspect the premises. Confuse clients make quick exits or hide in the hallways.

Walsh says it's a game of cat and mouse, where everyone understands that sex is for sale. He grills a girl he found half naked, who the owner claims was just there for an interview

Walsh: Do you have a massage diploma?

Girl: No. First day, go to Chinese.

Walsh: Okay, if you want to work here, you have to go to massage school. Here's a citation to a hearing. You cannot do massage without a permit. Okay?

Walsh: She was putting her close on when I walked in. You know that employee lounge with all the girls? I stuck my head in there and she was putting on her shirt. The lady that was in there claimed that she was there for an interview. And I asked the owner is that normally how you interview people, without their clothes on? And she said no.

The owners barely hide the notion of sex for sale. This sign, displayed right above the reception area, warns customers about mixing drugs and alcohol with sex.

Officer: How many cameras do you have?

Owner: Here four, and here four.

Officer: So eight cameras?

Phone rings.

Business is booming as clients anxiously wait to get in but the owner hesitates to let them in.

Owner: Can you come back later? I have inspection here.

This client is undeterred and insists on coming up. It's only when he sees the police officers that he makes a hasty exit.

As he goes down, another client comes up.

John: I have a 7:30 appointment.

He pushes past officers until he finally realizes the gravity of the situation.

John: Yeah. Okay.

Officers admit that these surprise inspections won't stop women from being forced into prostitution, but at least it keeps owners on their toes.

Walsh: I cannot change this.

Owner: So this time, $5000.

Walsh: That's right.

Walsh: You can talk to the hearing officer. Give him your side of the story, but I walked in and I saw her. She was putting her shirt on.

Owner tries to explain (grabs her jacket to show girl was just putting her coat on).

Walsh: I told you, don't have anybody here without permits. I told you that.

Owner: I always listen.

Walsh: I keep telling you that for 2 years. I've been telling you that for 2 years. And then I come here and you've got girls without permits. I can't show any sympathy for that. Okay, sign here please.

Owner: I don't like that.

Walsh: Well, bring the tape to the hearing and let the judge look at the tape. That's all I can say.

Owner: $5000.

Mayor Gavin Newsom: This is happening because men are engaging in this illegal activity and they need to be held accountable.

Norma Hotaling: We need to start thinking in a very different way about who we see and who we blame.

Norma Hotaling, the founder of an international organization to help women forced into prostitution, says the only way to make a real dent in stopping what she sees as a global epidemic is to attack the demand. The men who spend thousands on sex to go.

Hotaling: They could really stop. They could understand that the people that they are buying are there not of their own free will. And that behind the smile that they pay for is an incredible amount of pain and fear and terror.

Hotaling: Ok, good afternoon.

Every month for the past 12 years you'll find Norma Hotaling lecturing 1st time offenders. Johns arrested by police in sting operations for soliciting prostitutes.

Hotaling: Traffickers will do whatever they need to do in order to ensnare a girl.

Hotaling pulls no punches and educates the johns on the cold cruel reality of the women and young girls they buy online, on the streets, or in massage parlors. 7000 men have gone through her unique program.

Hotaling: They don't think about the fact that they can't tell if a woman is trafficked. They can't even tell if the person that they're having sex with is a kid.

Hotaling says research shows her program has seriously reduced recidivism, keeping men from reoffending. This john was so moved by the program and the stories of trafficked women he agreed to be interviewed.

John: I've heard of it, but I never really paid attention to it, because it didn't apply to me, I was being selfish I wasn't thinking of them. It really tears me up inside that could be my daughter, my kids.

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