Massage parlor burglar arrested - Glendale Star

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The Glendale Police Department recently arrested 23-year-old Mitchell Briggs in connection with a string of burglaries at massage parlors across the Valley. Detectives were made aware of roughly 25 cases since July, leading to the department charging Briggs with multiple counts of armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and burglary.

The department was alerted to the crimes on July 4, as it responded to a business burglary just after 2 a.m. Briggs allegedly removed the glass panel from the building’s front window to enter. A female employee saw the entry and fled the building. Briggs was spotted by video surveillance searching through drawers with his phone flashlight on, police said. The business owner reported nothing was missing, but the window repair was $300.

The next incident was on Sept. 8, with a call regarding a robbery taking place near West Cactus Road at approximately 3:40 a.m. Briggs used the sharp end of a black pry bar to force open a metal security door, police said. He then encountered two employees who were sleeping in the back rooms, where he got into a physical altercation with one of the employees.


“The defendant was seen pushing the employee and making a motion with his right hand as if he was going to stab the defendant with the pry bar,” court documents said. “While still inside the business, the defendant continued to point and tell the employees where to go. The defendant eventually obtained a black zipper pouch and took all the cash out of it, which was approximately $500.”

Video surveillance later showed Briggs unsuccessfully attempting to break into a safe, police said. Use of the Glendale Real Time Crime Center also produced the make and model of the suspect’s vehicle — a maroon Dodge Charger with silver rims.


The department obtained a search warrant to place a GPS on the suspect’s vehicle. The data detailed that the suspect had committed additional crimes within Glendale and Peoria, as well as the broader Maricopa County area.

After confirming Briggs’ connection to the crimes, he was pulled over in a traffic stop and taken into custody. In his post-Miranda interview, he said he was the owner of the vehicle and declined to answer any line of questioning involving the massage parlor burglaries.

“During the serving of the search warrant at the defendant’s residence as well as on the vehicle, multiple items of evidence were located,” the document said. “This included approximately $10,000 in cash, receipts for large bank deposits, three pry bars and a ledger. The ledger was found to have the addresses of 65 massage parlors. Some of these addresses were crossed out in red ink and had a dollar amount next to them.

“The ledger also had a legend which read ‘difficulty’ with three different colors next to this word… It is believed the defendant was documenting the level of difficulty for each location and would cross out the locations he already visited.”