What happens in Vegas doesn't necessarily stay in Vegas after all.
San Mateo County Sheriff Greg Munks and his undersheriff were swept up in Las Vegas prostitution sting over the weekend while at a massage parlor suspected of being a brothel, authorities said Tuesday.
Munks called the incident a "personal embarrassment" and apologized to sheriff's officials, the county and his family for his "lack of personal judgment." He denied any wrongdoing, however, as did Undersheriff Carlos Bolanos.
Munks, who was sworn in as sheriff in January, was in the massage parlor at about 9:30 p.m. Saturday, and Bolanos was somewhere on the property when authorities raided the establishment, which was run out of a private home that had no name and no signage, Las Vegas police Lt. Dave Logue said. Munks said Bolanos was outside when the raid took place.
It was one of several raids of suspected brothels over the weekend. Neither Munks nor Bolanos was arrested.
"I believed I was going to a legitimate business," the sheriff said Tuesday at the Redwood City courthouse, reading from a written statement with Bolanos at his side. "It was not."
"I would not, nor did I, break any laws," Munks said. "Neither did the undersheriff."
The lawmen declined to answer questions.
The massage parlor was in a residential area about 2 miles off the Las Vegas Strip, Logue said. It was one of eight alleged brothels being run from houses and apartments that police raided Saturday night as part of "Operation Dollhouse," a sting aimed at prostitution and human trafficking with suspected links to Asia, Las Vegas authorities said.
Police and federal agents seized 3,500 tablets of ecstasy and $20,000 in cash during the raids. Seven people were arrested for allegedly operating the brothels, and 25 prostitutes were taken into custody, police said.
Prostitution is legal in most counties in Nevada but not in Clark County, which includes Las Vegas.
Logue said it was difficult to comment on whether the business where Munks and Bolanos were found could have been mistaken for a straightforward massage parlor.
"That's hard to say, because I don't frequent legitimate massage parlors," Logue said. "I don't know what was in either of these officers' minds."
Legitimate massage parlors operate in the same area, but most of those have signs, Logue said.
He described Munks, 52, and Bolanos, 48, as "very cooperative and "very professional" when they were questioned.
Munks said he and Bolanos had been in Las Vegas attending the 2007 Challenge Cup Baker to Vegas Relay, a 120-mile, 20-stage foot race for law enforcement.
Both men paid for the trip, and no county funds were used for travel or accommodations, said Lt. Lisa Williams, a San Mateo County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman. A few county vehicles were used to support the runners during the relay, which is standard for law enforcement agencies participating in the event, Williams said.
Munks, the longtime undersheriff in San Mateo County, ran unopposed in the June 2006 election to succeed retiring Sheriff Don Horsley, who unsuccessfully lobbied the Board of Supervisors in 2002 to pass a measure aimed at forcing bordellos posing as massage parlors out of business.
Bolanos was police chief of Redwood City for 12 years before Munks appointed him undersheriff.
Both men are "outstanding law enforcement officers," and the Las Vegas incident would have no effect on their ability to work with local prosecutors, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.
