Franklin City Council mulls permitting changes for spas after raid - Daily Journal

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Franklin City Hall is pictured in fall 2022. The city council is considering an ordinance update to protect residents from illegal activity at massage parlors. Daily Journal file photo


After three Franklin spas were raided for “questionable business practices” the city council is considering changes to its massage parlor ordinance.

The investigation is still ongoing, with one Brownstown woman facing charges related to running a spa that provided “erotic” and “happy ending” massages.

The council opened discussion on amending the massage parlor ordinance Monday and will likely take action on it in October.

About the ordinance

The proposed change would require people who want to open a spa to get a permit from the Franklin Police Department. Currently, people applying to open a spa get a permit through the mayor’s office.

Requiring permits to go through the police department adds an extra layer of security and is hoped to prevent future illegal activity, said Lynn Gray, city attorney

“It does utilize some of our police department resources to do background checks and things of that nature to make sure that if there is a business operation, No. 1, we know about it. No. 2, it is in an area that is properly zoned. And No. 3, it complies with all requirements of state and local health department issues,” Gray said.

Although the original ordinance and the new proposed ordinance both state that masseuses cannot touch the genitals of a client and must be covered with appropriate clothing, the new proposed amendment has a section on advertising and states that no massage establishment can depict any portion of the human body that would “reasonably suggest” to patrons that anything other than massage services are available.

The amendment also states that those with a felony or offense involving sexual misconduct with children or any obscenity, keeping/residing in a house of ill fame, solicitation of a lewd or unlawful act, prostitution or pandering cannot get a permit. The original ordinance is not as detailed.

The chief of police or designee can make an exception if the conviction happened 10 years prior to the date of the application and no subsequent convictions have happened.

No license can be issued without an inspection by the director of the county health department or an authorized representative to verify certain requirements with toilets, bath/shower areas and water temperature. Alongside issuing permits, the police department and/or county health department are entitled at least twice a year to make an inspection of each massage establishment to determine compliance.

Background on spa investigation

The new proposed ordinance comes after three spas in Franklin were raided this summer for “questionable business practices.” On June 6, three women were arrested by the Franklin Police Department and assisting agencies at The Sunshine Golden Spa, Sun Health Spa and Hong Kong Massage & Spa.

Liu

In August, the Johnson County Prosecutor’s Office filed charges against Ying Liu of Brownstown for promoting prostitution, corrupt business influence and money laundering. Liu was initially charged with prostitution as a misdemeanor after the sweep of the business in June and was the registered agent of Sun Health Spa at 50 W. Jefferson St., Franklin.

The FPD started investigating Liu’s spa and others in Franklin approximately a year prior to the June raid after the police received a tip that several local establishments were advertising “erotic and happy-ending massages” on the Internet.

Advertisements for the business included images described in the affidavit as “scantily dressed young Asian women in seductive poses” and used words like “NEW sexy Asian petite girls.” While the ads didn’t explicitly state sex acts were available at the parlor, the ads appeared on websites that are used solely for illegal acts, the affidavit says.

Over the years, the police received five complaints between 2018 to 2022 stemming from the parlors, court documents say.

An online review posted by a purported customer in 2022 stated their masseuse tried to touch their genitals and had them take off their underwear, the affidavit says. Another customer who was interviewed by police denied receiving sexual services but he had the impression “he probably could have gotten ‘whatever’ for a little more money.”

When the detective went undercover with buy money to purchase a massage, he said in the affidavit the masseuse did not seem to have formal training based on her techniques and focus on areas a normal masseuse wouldn’t including the buttocks and areas near the genitals. At the end of the massage, the detective asked if she would do more, and she smiled and pointed at his genitalia, the affidavit says.

The masseuse identified herself as Ye, however, the detective later found out it was Liu during the search of the business June 6. During the search, police found $6,000 in cash stashed around various places in the business and the attached living quarters. In Liu’s rural Brownstown home, there was $97,055 in a locked gun safe and bank statements for the business on her desk.

The two other Franklin businesses from the raid are still under investigation. A Plainfield spa connected to Sun Health Spa has also been the subject of police investigation, the affidavit says.