Suspected brothels in San Jose, 4 arrested

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Police have arrested four people in a human trafficking bust in San Jose. They are accused of running brothels out of two homes located on Silver Leaf Road in South San Jose and on South King Road in East San Jose.

Police said 47-year-old Monica Ho of San Jose is believed to be the madam. 68-year-old Kimberly Nguyen of Las Vegas and 57-year-old Thu Nguyen of San Jose were the brothels house managers. 40-year-old Richard Yoo of San Jose was an associate. They were arrested on human trafficking and pimping and pandering charges.

Police have identified six survivors of human trafficking ranging in age from 24 to 54.

One neighbor who lived on Silver Leaf Road in the quiet Blossom Hill neighborhood said she saw police raid the home Wednesday. She said the tenants moved in in December. She would notice young girls and men going in and out of the home and expensive cars parked outside. She said among the items police collected Wednesday were ATM machines.

Robert Coffield lives next door. He said police checked to see if anyone had jumped in his backyard. He and others had no idea.

“I suppose if I thought of it, a brothel would have explained it,” said Coffield. “I didn't know who actually moved in there.”

“I’m just really surprised in our neighborhood, things like that go on,” said Neighbor Eileen Rozanski.

One neighbor said the house had Christmas lights on all the time so the house would stand out. A suspected brothel eight miles away on Busy South King Road also had Christmas lights on. 

Police said the survivors are receiving support from Community Solutions nonprofit.

“We know trafficking occurs very commonly in plain sight,” said Kim Gutierrez of Community Solutions. “It's happening in our community and a lot more frequently than the community believes.”

Gutierrez said the survivors will now be paired with a victim’s advocate, be medically checked and provided housing.