Cop Allegedly Opens Brothel, Busts Competition [Video]

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When a couple of men who had worked together as law enforcement officers in the San Francisco Bay area's Contra Costa County were accused of stealing drugs from evidence lockers for sale on the streets, all hell broke loose. Now one is accusing the other of starting a brothel in a massage parlor, protecting it from legal prosecution, and closing down its competitors.

Former state narcotics agent Norman Wielsch, 50, who has since resigned from the force, has pleaded not guilty to all charges, both drug-related and prostitution-related, based on evidence provided by Christopher Butler, 49, a former colleague who is also no longer with the force and is now working as a private investigator.

Butler claims that Wielsch learned so much about the prostitution businesses from busting those on his beat that he decided to start one of his own. He says that Wielsch asked him to lease a specific space for a "massage parlor," and hired an Oakland woman, whom he'd previously arrested for prostitution, to run the place. Butler alleges tha he regularly collected money from her, and gave it to Wielsch.

Although neighbors complained and police were sent out, no charges were ever filed against anyone associated with the business, but plenty of other houses of prostitution in the area were busted, and their workers charged.

Wielsch's attorney, Michael Cardoza, told The Chronicle that his client is innocent, and that Butler is telling wild stories in an effort to make a deal or reduce his own sentence.

"Butler is spinning tales to save himself," Cardoza said. "He'd rat out his mother and father if he had to."