Read on...
Posted: 10:31 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 28, 2012
OPD officers frequent karaoke bar suspected of condoning prostitution
KTVU
opd club 1029
Related
Sponsored Links
OAKLAND, Calif. —
Some members of the Oakland Police Department have taken an unusual interest in a private room karaoke bar. A place neighbors worry could be involved in prostitution.
KTVU first investigated the business after discovering a Port of Oakland official spent public money there.
Over four nights, we watched the same scene play out at Cafe Juliet on 14th street, in Mid-Town, Oakland. Each night, our camera recorded women in skimpy clothing filing into the downstairs business that bills itself as a private room karaoke bar. A mini-van dropped off as many as seven women at a time.
"We're like, what's going on down there? is this some kind of weird prostitution thing going on?" said neighbor Anca Mosoiu.
She and others say the scene we observed has been going on for years. But she told us it's not just the women and mostly male clientele that have her concerned.
"We've seen a police officer kind of go in and out, sometimes at night. Sometimes there's a police car parked out here for a couple of hours," said Mosoiu.
On KTUV’s first night outside the bar, a marked Oakland police cruiser parked right in front of us. Moments later, we watched Sgt. Warren Young go inside. Shortly after he left, the women began arriving.
On the next night, Young's cruiser was back again but it was another uniformed officer who parked and went inside. Officer Barry Ko made two visits to Cafe Juliet that night. The second visit lasted 27 minutes. As soon as Ko left, just before midnight, Sergeant Young returned.
On his third stop of the night, Young drove though the parking lot, next to Cafe Juliet using his spotlight on the cars.
KTVU reporter Eric Rasmussen asked Sgt. Young about his stops at Cafe Juliet.
- Eric Rasmussen: "Sergeant, Eric with Channel Two. Just a quick question for you. Cafe Juliet on 14th street."
- Sgt. Young: "Yes. What about it?"
- Eric Rasmussen: "Why are you there night after night?"
- Sgt. Young: "Because my friend works there."
- Eric Rasmussen: "Are you doing this as a favor to your friend?"
- Sgt. Young: "No, no. My friend works there. Works there. Not owner, not anything else."
- Eric Rasmussen: "But is that the reason you're giving this, what seems to be, a lot of your time?"
- Sgt. Young: "No, because I only go down there when I'm off and I stay there for a length of time."
- Sgt. Young: "When I'm working. I do a security check there. Because what happens is that. Can we talk off camera for a second and I'll tell you what's going on."
Sgt. Young said he couldn't elaborate because of an investigation. But he insists there's nothing illegal happening inside Cafe Juliet.
- Eric Rasmussen: "I had a regular tell me, flat out, you can get girls here. Does that concern you to hear that?"
- Sgt. Young: "No, no. That is completely untrue. Well, I can't say that for a fact because I don't follow those people home, right?"
We showed our video to former Alameda County Sheriff Charles Plummer.
"Police officer should know, as you and I should know, what's going on in there and it's not singing karaoke."
Plummer says the Oakland Poluce Department shpuld be questioning what its officers are doing here.
"I would start an immediate investigation. Absolutely, right now," said Plummer.
Plummer, with more than 50 years in law enforcement, doesn't believe we stumbled into an on-going investigation. "If they were checking on this place, it wouldn't be in uniform. If they were doing it, it would be plain clthes people," said Plummer.
Oakland Mayor Jean Quan says she expects Police Chief Howard Jordon will investigate. "If he has this information, has these tapes, he will investigate it and I have confidence that if there is any misconduct he will do the right thing," said Quan.
So far, Chief Jordan has not responded to our requests to interview him, Officer Ko, or anyone with the department's command staff.
