Pimp pleads guilty: San Mateo police assist in uncovering prostitution ring

Fong is one of 10 people from across the globe who were charged with a range of crimes after a yearslong investigation initially sparked by the San Mateo Police Department. The local agency was conducting an undercover operation at the Metropolitan Apartment complex on the 300 block of South Fremont Street when they first realized something deeper was about to unravel, said San Mateo police Lt. Todd Mefford.

Years of conducting numerous stings in conjunction with federal officials as well as other law enforcement agencies revealed an extensive prostitution network headquartered in San Mateo County, Mefford said.

“There is no community that’s immune to this, because it’s such a lucrative business. And it really has a lasting impact on the victims,” Mefford said. In reacting to Fong’s plea, Mefford said, “We will let the federal authorities determine his sentence, but his reign in San Mateo and the Bay Area is over.”

Fong has been described as the head of racketeering enterprise that supervised the recruitment of prostitutes from Asian countries, rented apartments to use as brothels, transported prostitutes and arranged online advertising — the latter is how police first caught on. A 2014 grand jury indictment said the enterprise operated 40 brothels in the Peninsula, South Bay and East Bay cities between 2002 and 2014.

The cities included San Mateo, where 14 brothels were located, Redwood City, Belmont, San Bruno, Colma, Foster City, South San Francisco, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale and Pinole, according to Bay City News Service.

Mefford said the case first began to unfold in 2009 when San Mateo police conducted a sting after coming across a prostitution add online via sites like Craigslist and MyRedBook.com. Investigators quickly realized the case was related to human trafficking and contacted officials with the U.S. offices of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Mefford said.

“When we come across something that signals a potential human trafficking case, we look at that first contact as the tip of the iceberg before we start digging and we investigate every avenue possible,” Mefford said.

Jointly, they went on to work with other law enforcement agencies to conduct numerous other stings that pointed to Fong — a married San Mateo resident with a daughter who was working at an Alameda Safeway — as the leader, Mefford said.

Fong would arrange the rental of apartments, primarily at larger complexes, where women who were brought from a variety of primarily Asian countries would come for about three months at a time. In San Mateo, the brothels were located in various neighborhoods such as Los Prados, Laurie Meadows, Lakeshore Landing and more, Mefford said.

“The neighborhoods are not immune to this type of activity coming in,” Mefford said, adding the only thing predictable about the “Johns” was that they came around the clock. “There was a mix from day laborer types, to attorneys on their lunch.”

Because the main nexus was Fong, who was based in San Mateo, the local department remained committed to being an integral part of the investigation, Mefford said. He recalled how the first sting at the Metropolitan apartment was part of the department’s neighborhood response team and urged people to report suspicious behavior.

In the Fong case, indicators would have been seeing woman with suitcases staying for short periods of time, Johns coming at all hours of the day and only staying an hour or less, and shorter-term leases most frequently at larger apartment complexes, Mefford said.

Fong was convicted of 32 counts that include conspiracy to racketeer, conspiracy to use foreign and interstate commerce to further prostitution, money laundering and conspiracy to launder money. Other counts include conspiring to transport foreign funds to the United States for an illegal purpose, transporting foreign funds and conspiring to transport an undocumented immigrant to the United States for the purpose of prostitution, according to Bay City News.

Several of the counts carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison.

Fong was the only person out of the 10 linked to the case to be charged on all 32 counts. Fong’s brother, Waylen Fong, 72, previously pleaded guilty to one count of racketeering conspiracy and was sentenced to probation Tuesday. The indictment said Waylen Fong’s role was to rent two of the apartments, according to Bay City News. Kevin Hartig, a Daly City man, also faces charges. The cases remain pending for the other eight defendants, some of whom are foreign citizens from Thailand, Singapore and Taiwan.

Mefford noted many of the victims, although technically considered to be here willingly, were offered assistance as well as services; however, many returned to their home countries.

Looking back, Mefford noted the investigation began as a neighborhood service but branched out to uncovering a sophisticated prostitution sting. While police had been proactive in this case and agencies do conduct undercover operations, he also urged the community to assist.

“We want to make sure we’re doing everything possible to reduce the number of victims and put perpetrators away,” Mefford said. “So if you see something, say something. Because we need [the public’s] eyes and ears in the community.”

Bay City News Service contributed to this report.