Retired Metro sergeant admitted he stole money from massage parlors, police say

A recently retired Metropolitan Police Department vice sergeant admitted to stealing money from massage parlors while on duty, according to police.

Sean Lucero faces charges of theft and oppression under the color of office. In a report dated September 17, Metro accused him of making ill-gotten cash deposits totaling $37,160, many corresponding to dates when he was part of “massage parlor operations.”

Police defined those operations as visits by undercover detectives to massage parlors suspected to offer prostitution where detectives would pose as patrons and alert colleagues once they’d made an arrangement to pay for sexual acts.

Lucero appeared in court Thursday for a short hearing before Justice of the Peace Amy Chelini, who granted a request agreed upon by prosecutors for him to be given an own recognizance walk through, meaning he would not have to be booked in jail.

Philip Singer, who represented Lucero, said he was pleased with the judge’s decision. Lucero was a public servant for about 25 years, he said.

Lucero worked at Metro from 1999 to August, when he retired just over a month after detectives questioned him, according to police.

‘Routinely steal money’

In March, a detective got information from at least one source who claimed to be involved in the same undercover operations as Lucero and believed Lucero “would routinely steal money” from businesses the vice squad investigated.

While searching massage parlors, he behaved suspiciously, police said.

“He would insist on searching areas where there was a higher likelihood of currency being kept and he performed searches even in instances where there was no search warrant being executed,” Metro alleged.

Beginning in May 2023, Lucero worked as a sergeant and was assigned to the vice unit. Massage parlor operations increased dramatically once he was transferred to the unit, Metro said, from 17 operations between January 2022 and May 2023 to 79 involving his squad between July 2023 and June 2024.

Cash deposits

Lucero “showed a concerted interest in massage parlor operations” and when a detective tried to do other enforcement more frequently, rebuffed the detective’s efforts, according to police.

Between January 2022 and July 2024, his deposits totaled about $86,000, according to police. After his transfer to vice, the report said, he made 35 deposits, totaling about $37,000.

Many of the cash deposits were made to accounts that had no money or a negative balance in an account, police said.

Lucero’s Metro paychecks and veteran’s disability compensation were directly deposited to his bank account and he had not reported outside employment to Metro, which requires that such employment be approved, the report said.

Detectives interviewed Lucero for about four hours on July 8. Lucero initially denied stealing from massage parlors or having financial problems, according to police.

Lucero gave “vague, sometimes unintelligble explanations” and said a business partner would give him cash when he needed it, something that partner could not recall doing, Metro said.

‘This is not who I am’

Police said Lucero eventually told detectives he stole from massage parlors 10 to 12 times.

“This is not who I am,” he said, according to police, adding, “I didn’t come this far in my career to go out this way.”

The charges Lucero faces only relate to one massage parlor, according to a copy of the criminal complaint for him.

“There is a complex mix of self-preservation, loyalty to associates and distrust of law enforcement involved when criminals are victimized by police officers,” Metro said. “For these reasons, crimes committed by law enforcement in these circumstances, especially prostitution related investigations, are more likely to go unreported, making it inherently difficult to find cooperative victims… employees at these massage parlors are often victims of sex trafficking and are afraid of cooperating with law enforcement due to (the) owner, management or other employees becoming aware.”

Contact Noble Brigham at nbrigham@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BrighamNoble on X.