In legal parlance, it's called a "bawdy house." And what was happening inside that old, ramshackle house in Centreville, say police, was prostitution.
Accordingly, last Friday night, a team of Fairfax County police swooped down on a home at 7014 Centreville Road — just south of Compton Road, on Route 28 — and arrested 11 people in connection with alleged prostitution there.
THEY CHARGED seven men with frequenting a bawdy house and four women with prostitution. The men range in age from 22-36 and live in Springfield, Fairfax and Manassas. The women are ages 29-44 and live in New York.
In a May 22 affidavit for a warrant to search the premises, Det. Paul Hellwig, explained what led up to Friday's climax. He stated that, during May, a "concerned citizen" tipped him off that the home "appeared to have high volumes of foot and vehicle traffic consistent with a bawdy house operation."
So on May 21, Hellwig and members of the police department's Street Crimes Unit conducted surveillance outside the home. "[I] observed numerous Hispanic male subjects entering and exiting the residence within a 15-minute time frame," he wrote. "Also observed were several Hispanic female subjects who were scantily clothed and appeared to be acting as prostitutes greeting the Hispanic male subjects outside of the residence and then escorting them [inside]."
The detective then phoned the house. He wrote that someone called Chavo directed him to come there and enter through the back door, where someone from inside the home would greet him.
"Chavo negotiated with [me] that it would cost $30 for any acts of prostitution that would be committed by the Hispanic females located inside the residence," wrote Hellwig. "[I] agreed to the terms and drove to the [home]."
Then, continuing to work in an undercover capacity, the detective entered the house, met with a Hispanic male and was told to wait in the living room. There, wrote Hellwig, he saw several other Hispanic men sitting and waiting.
According to the affidavit, Hellwig was directed to a Hispanic woman, and a man then asked him for $30. The detective gave him $40 of Fairfax County Confidential Buy Funds and then followed the woman into the far, back bedroom. Next, wrote Hellwig, "She immediately proceeded to remove her underwear bottoms and retrieve a condom."
The detective then gave a pre-arranged signal to the arrest team waiting outside. The team members entered the house and, along with Hellwig, arrested everyone in it. "Located within plain view were items consistent with acts of prostitution," wrote Hellwig. "These items were condoms, condom wrappers, lubricants and rubbing alcohol."
The seven men charged with frequenting a bawdy house were: Jose Luis Pineda Navarro, 36, of 6120 Cumberland Ave. in Springfield; Jose Osmin Ascencio, 27, of 3922 Tedrich Blvd., Fairfax; Ulises Martinez-Alvarado, 22, of 10186 Speedwell Court, Manassas; Hector Vasquez Reyes, 25, of 9228 Taney Road, Manassas; Juan Sanchez, 27, of 1941 Springhope Drive, Manassas; Raul Ernesto Hernandez Garcia, 31, of 8885 Winding Hollow Way; and Horacio Zurita-Beltran, 24, of 8059 Community Drive, Manassas.
THE FOUR WOMEN charged with prostitution were: Marcelina Flores Rangel, 35, of New York City, N.Y.; Heriberta Caraballo, 44, of 316 Eldert Lane, Woodhaven, N.Y.; Paula Reyes Gonzalez, 30, of 3313 96th St., Corona, N.Y.; and Samta Caroline Zelaya, 29, of 1418 111th St., College Point, Flushing, N.Y.
The house, itself, is old and rundown. It has white siding with dark-green shutters, and the black entry door is on one side of the house, near a rusted barbecue grill. The home sits across from a grassy field on the other side of Route 28, and traffic steadily whizzes by.
The living room contains a faded, red couch, but it's what's outside the home that seems to tell a story. Propped up against the back of the house are two, thin, worn-out mattresses, and in the grass of the side yard are remnants of a watermelon and two, flattened boxes that each once held 12 longneck Corona Extra beers.
But there's more. Stacked beneath the Corona boxes are seven, flattened, brown-cardboard boxes, each one stamped with the words, "1,008 latex condoms." According to the boxes, the condoms were made in Japan and distributed by Okamoto U.S.A. of Stratford, Conn. It means that, at one time, these boxes were filled with a total of 7,056 condoms.
In addition, next to the boxes — still wrapped in plastic and written in both English and Spanish — was an Okamoto instruction sheet explaining how to put on and properly use the condoms. The directions included one reading, "Use a new condom for each act of intercourse. DO NOT RE-USE."
IT'S NOT yet been revealed who owns the house, if it was rented or if people were using it without the owner's knowledge. It's also not yet clear whether the owner was aware of what was happening inside the premises. And police have not said how long the alleged illicit activities there had been going on.
However, the police raid Friday night was the last thing that nearby neighbor Linh Truong expected. He and his wife have lived in their home for seven years and were asleep around 10 p.m. when the flashing lights from all the police cars woke them up.
"I went outside to see what was happening," he said on Tuesday. But he didn't find out about the alleged prostitution in the house near his until Centre View informed him. He was surprised to learn that something like that could have been going on in his neighborhood. And when asked what he thought about it, he replied simply, "It's bad."