A list of people with ties to a suspected prostitution ring includes many prominent Tucsonans — but it’s not the political bombshell some were expecting.
The list, which Tucson police released on Wednesday, includes every contact programmed into roughly 15 phones central to the investigation of a string of massage parlors, collectively called By Spanish. Many of the phone numbers are unrelated to the criminal investigation and include restaurants, bill collectors and customer service departments for various businesses.
Many names of well-known Tucsonans popped up because one phone police combed through as part of the investigation belongs to former mayoral candidate Shaun McClusky. His company was a property manager for one of several homes believed to be associated with By Spanish that the Tucson Police Department raided in January.
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Not surprisingly, McClusky’s contact list included local politicians including a member of Congress, Tucson City Council members, members of the Pima County Board of Supervisors, local executives and journalists. So all of their names appear on the list — but they are not, and have never been, a target of the prostitution investigation, Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villaseñor said.
“The inclusion of information in this list is in no way indicative of involvement in criminal activity,” Villaseñor said in a prepared statement.
In an interview Wednesday, McClusky said he has no connection to By Spanish except as an unwitting property manager. His company, Rincon Ventures, manages more than 950 homes in the Tucson metropolitan area.
He said fair housing laws make it illegal to discriminate against qualified tenants, even if there is a suspicion they may be involved with illegal activities.
Information stored in the phones associated with By Spanish and Daisy’s Delights — an offshoot operation believed to have been run by a former employee of By Spanish — includes names, nicknames and phone numbers as well as some addresses and notes about clients. Among the more colorful notes: “2 dollar Ron!” “really really nice” and “really really weird.”
Most of the information, other than the names or nicknames and how the information was discovered, was blacked out by TPD. The Star is appealing the department’s decision to redact the phone numbers.
The Star is not releasing the list of names as no one on it has been arrested or charged in connection with the case, including the owners of By Spanish, which operated out of multiple locations for at least three years.
Seven Tucson Police Department officers are under investigation by the Arizona Department of Public Safety for their possible involvement with By Spanish. Police have named a total of 14 men — including two airmen at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, two Border Patrol agents, three firefighters, a teacher and a pastor — as the most frequent customers of the suspected brothels.
A separate document the Star requested indicates that one customer contacted By Spanish 3,950 times in 18 months — although booking and showing up for one visit could require multiple phone calls and text messages.
Other frequent customers contacted By Spanish 2,745 times, 1,750 times and 1,700 times.
