What’s the Rub?: Police Arrest Massage Parlor Bandit

By Lookout Staff

May 6 -- A man who robbed two local massage parlors Thursday night was arrested in Sunset Park after police set up a perimeter and searched the area with the aid of police dogs and a helicopter.

Matthew Luke Moulton, a 21-year-old white Reseda resident was arrested around midnight after police spotted two men jumping over a fence at 11th Street and Ocean Park Boulevard, said Lt. Frank Fabrega, the police department spokesman.

A police K-9 unit located Moulton in the 1100 block of Maple Street and he was taken into custody, police said.

A field show-up was conducted and the suspect was positively identified, Fabrega said. Moulton was booked for armed robbery and his bail has been set at $50,000.

Police are still searching for the second suspect, who was described as a white man between 19 and 21 years of age, 5’6” tall and weighing 140 pounds, Fabrega said. He has brown hair and was wearing a blue sweatshirt with a hood.

The search began at 9:30 p.m. when police responded to an armed robbery at the Sun Massage Parlor on the 1400 block of Lincoln Boulevard, Fabrega said.

Responding officers began to check the other massage parlors in the area, when they received information of a second robbery had just occurred at Skin Paradise on the 2400 block of Lincoln Boulevard, Fabrega said.

When officers arrived they spotted the two men and established a perimeter, he said.

One Sunset Park resident described the scene in an email circulated by a local neighborhood group.

"The Police set up a block at the corner of Maple,” the resident wrote in the email. “There were police cars lined up all the way on Maple St., from Euclid to 14th. They were checking cars that drove by, but would only allow residents with proof to drive through.”

The arrest comes in the wake of five robberies of massage parlors during the past several months, but police did not say if Thursday’s robberies were related.

In a press release issued Wednesday, police described the methods used by the bandits in the earlier robberies.

“Apparently, during the robberies, the suspects enter the location then confront the employees and demand money,” police said.

“During two of the robberies the suspects used a knife to threaten the victim and during one of the robberies the suspects simulated a weapon,” police said. “No one has been injured during these robberies.”

The suspects in the five earlier robberies were described as two Hispanic men 5’3” to 6’1’ tall and weighing between 130 pounds to 170 pounds, police said. They had short hair and fair to medium complexions. The suspects usually wore dark clothing during the robberies.

Anyone having additional information regarding these incidents should call the Robbery/Homicide Unit of the Santa Monica Police Department at 310-458-8451 or the Watch Commander’s Office at 310-458-8426.

Callers who wish to remain anonymous, yet still become eligible for a reward, may also call the WeTip national hotline at 1-800-78-CRIME (27463).