Midland event spotlights surge in illicit massage businesses - Midland Reporter-Telegram

[B. Kay Richter]

Lisa Bownds of Reflection Ministries highlights the rise of illicit massage businesses in the Permian Basin and the need for support for trafficking survivors.

B. Kay Richter/Reporter-Telegram

Joe Madison is the founder and executive director of Demand Disruption.

B. Kay Richter/Reporter-Telegram

Caroline Roberts serves as general counsel and senior director of public policy at Children at Risk.

B. Kay Richter/Reporter-Telegram


Lisa Bownds, CEO of Reflection Ministries, invited local politicians, law enforcement personnel and community members for a lunch and learn event discussing how to close illicit massage businesses. The event, hosted by state Senator Kevin Sparks, was held mid-day at the Wildcatter Room, located in the Petroleum Club of Midland.


Bownds discussed the organization's mission to provide long-term care for human trafficking survivors, emphasizing the need for 24/7 support and comprehensive service. She also highlighted the issue of illicit massage businesses (IMBs) in the Permian Basin, noting a significant increase from the 680 state-reported businesses in 2018, to the nearly 1,400 that were reported in 2024.



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"On average, most trafficking victims are sold 15 to 20 times a day, that's upwards of 45 to 60 times per week," she told audience members. "I am not bringing you statistics that don't exist. I'm bringing you live experience from people who have been on the street, who have been sold and what happens next to know most people are discounted, most people are never seen, and most people never received resources."


Bownds saw a need for a pathway for human trafficking survivors/victims to begin a new life. That idea motivated her to create her organization centered around providing a long-term care facility for human trafficking survivors complete with 24/7 support and comprehensive services such as health care and educational resources.


She believes there are at least 50 illicit massage businesses operating within the Permian Basin.


Bownds was joined by Demand Disruption founder and executive director Joe Madison. Both Madison and Bownds toured the Permian Basin and discovered a child care center that was in the same commercial building as a massage business.



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"I want you to know I drove down Illinois yesterday, and I'm like we are on massage alley because as we sat in the parking lot, there's two on side of the street, there's two across the street and there's one in the next block," Bownds said.


Madison said he left the oil and gas industry after a 25-year career in sales to volunteer to fight human trafficking full-time.


"The last time I was here I got out of my truck with a hard hat and some PPEs because I used to work in an oil patch," he told audience members.
He said that his nonprofit strategically prevents and reduces harm to the vulnerable by educating the community and eliminating self-sex buyer motivation, while obstructing access to the exploited.


"If we can't stop it proactively, then we're going to be a barrier to it happening, and we do that with our law enforcement partners, with our friends in our community, and with our other partners in nonprofit work," he said. "But unfortunately, the whole reason we are here today is because we know illicit massage businesses have been a huge issue."



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Madison emphasized the need for a legislative focus that gives law enforcement such as district attorneys and judges the capability to utilize a more proactive approach. He compared the arrest and release of sex buyers to a sort of simple exercise.


"We can't arrest this problem away," he explained. "I will pause if anybody can argue that with me if they'd like to, but I prefer people that tell me that in law enforcement, they do a wonderful job, but they realize that's not enough."


Often, Madison said law enforcement personnel realize that they have to do more than arrest and release the sex buyers.


"We've got to do more, and that's why (law enforcement) invited us in to talk to these men at the point of arrest," he reflected.



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Madison also highlighted videos he had taken of local businesses, while the names of the businesses were blurred to prevent lawsuits.


"This is a brief video, but if you haven't been inside, start to look at the way it's designed and set up," he said. "Because that matters; that's their business model. These places don't make a lot of money by accident."


Additionally, Madison highlighted the difference between illicit massage businesses and legitimate businesses. He said that legitimate businesses are great for communities because they provide public health benefits and provide a lot of revenue for the community.


"It's important that we protect those taxpayers who are doing things right, getting their licenses and employing people the way they should," he said.



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Madison said that when he first started volunteering in this work, he thought that he was going to knock down doors and rescue people. However, he said his perception of the businesses changed.


"I realized that the pound-of-flesh mentality is only good for that moment. That's not going to change anybody from buying again. And that is our ultimate responsibility," he explained. "My whole goal is to get to the second conversation, because between the time (the buyer) is arrested, and he gets released in two days, a lot of things would be going through his head. And it's my job to give him information that he needs to wrestle with, that needs to be difficult for him."


Madison said that interrupting the process is a way that puts lifelong resources within a person's life.


"The end result is always about the victim, it's always about the survivors," he said. "And yes, we work with the buyers but I work with the buyers because I believe that's the most direct way we can stop human trafficking."



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Madison also called for a local level of involvement in shutting down illicit massage businesses by increasing community awareness and business outreach. Part of that education, he said, is to prevent landlords from leasing to illicit massage businesses.


"The police are the public and the public are the police," he said. "The police being only members of the public who are paid to give full-time attention to duties that are incumbent on every citizen in the interest of community and welfare."


Madison also advocated for denying licensing permits and for local landlords refusing to lease buildings to illegitimate businesses.


"When we understand how subversive this industry is, that is when we start looking at the things that help them function in that way and it gives us a blueprint," he explained to community members.



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"Part of our research is looking into them. We have about 18 to 20 points of data for each location, including business owner's names and location names," he said. "Part of the reason I'm here is because we put together a program on how to approach these places that are setting foot in the door. We can do online research. We can know who the owner is, and then we can approach that owner at some point, once we've gone through the other checklist."


Caroline Roberts, a speaker who serves as general counsel and senior director of public policy for Children at Risk, also highlighted the issue of illicit massage businesses in the Permian Basin. She emphasized Texas's leadership in making buying sex a state felony and expanding civil remedies for victims.


Her presentation shared proposed local ordinances and conditional use permits to combat IMBs effectively, stressing the need for community collaboration and innovative strategies to address the growing problem.



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