San Francisco officials say a hard-fought legal settlement will keep a Tenderloin massage parlor shuttered for good, blocking any massage business at the O’Farrell Street address for the next decade and hitting both the operator and the building owners with sizable fines. The move follows years of undercover inspections and a steady stream of neighborhood complaints about what was happening inside the storefront.
According to CBS Bay Area, City Attorney David Chiu’s office reached a settlement that orders operator Ricky Lee to pay $200,000 and bars him from owning, managing or working at any massage or personal‑services business in California for 10 years. Property owners Richard and Deborah Bocci must pay $75,000 under the same deal, and the building itself is prohibited from being used as a massage parlor or spa for a decade.
Undercover inspections and health findings
The city’s lawsuit, detailed by The San Francisco Standard, lays out a series of undercover Department of Public Health and police operations stretching back to 2019. In one account, an undercover DPH inspector reported seeing seven women in lingerie inside the business, and during a February 26, 2025 inspection, officials said they found used condoms along with a list of other sanitation and safety violations.
Settlement terms and court record
Court records show that stipulated judgments resolving the civil nuisance suit were entered on December 18, 2025, and the city says the storefront has been closed since July 25, 2025. As reported by CBS Bay Area, Chiu said the business “was blatantly operating as a brothel” and framed the settlement terms as a way to hold both the operator and property owners to account.
Neighbors, reporters and police
The San Francisco Standard described one July visit in which its reporter was blocked from leaving the spa, an episode that highlighted long-standing safety worries in the neighborhood and echoed allegations in the city’s complaint. According to the reporting, the San Francisco Police Department has urged members of the public to share tips with its Special Victims Unit as investigators continue to probe the allegations tied to the business.
How the law works
City attorneys leaned on civil nuisance tools rooted in California’s Red Light Abatement Law, which allows courts to enjoin and abate buildings where prostitution, lewdness or assignation routinely occur. Under the statute, judges may order closures, remove fixtures and seek civil penalties against owners, according to California Penal Code Sections 11225–11235.
The settlement is intended to shut down what officials describe as a long‑running problem spot near Union Square, though neighbors and advocates are likely to watch closely to see whether the court orders are consistently enforced. The City Attorney’s office has cast the deal as a step to safeguard public health and safety in the area.
