Crackdown On Local Massage Parlors Extends to Two More in Sparks
A statement from the City of Sparks sent out today indicates “City Attorney Wes Duncan approved the revocation of two more business licenses of suspected illegal brothels, the Massage Shop/Lucky Day Massage and the Royal Spa and Massage.”
This comes amid a regional crackdown on massage parlors offering sex services, following a June to October investigation on both of these specific Sparks massage parlors.
“First, the locations in question were advertising sexual services on known prostitution websites,” the statement indicates.
“Second, the business phone number associated with the location yielded unique advertisements on several known prostitution websites. Third, there were numerous sexually explicit online reviews associated with both locations by sex purchasers who reviewed the sexual services offered at that location. Fourth, HEAT officers conducted surveillance of the locations and interviewed purchasers or “Johns” who admitted to paying for sexual services at the location. Fifth, the HEAT Unit received an anonymous tip from a man who attempted to receive a massage at the Massage Shop that the business is actually “a front for prostitution.”
Earlier this fall, RPD shut down Wonderful Massage on Hillcrest Drive after a months-long investigation, while the City of Sparks revoked the business license of Shanghai Spa.
In March this year, another massage parlor 7 Star Massage was evicted from a building on South McCarran Blvd. after an investigation revealed multiple online advertisements depicting illegal prostitution.
“Illicit massage businesses appear as legitimate massage establishments, but behind closed doors sexual acts are exchanged for money. The illicit massage industry is one of the largest and most networked sex trafficking markets in the United States and is a multi-billion-dollar industry. In most illicit massage businesses, vulnerable populations are sold “the American Dream” and they incur massive debt to travel to the United States. They then work and live exclusively at the illegal massage businesses to repay that debt. Moreover, illegal massage businesses are often intelligently organized crime rings that have multiple levels of organization at both the local level and across state lines,” the City of Sparks statement from today indicated.
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