Batavia working on massage ordinance after police stings lead to prostitution charges -...

[massage]

Batavia is working on ways to regulate massage businesses after workers at two parlors in the city were charged with prostitution.

Batavia is in the process of drafting an ordinance that would specifically regulate massage businesses, said Batavia Police Det. Sgt. Shawn Mazza. Most likely, the mayor, who acts as the liquor control commissioner, would also handle regulation of the businesses, Mazza said.

At 10:45 a.m. Thursday, an undercover investigator with the Batavia Police Department went into Superb Spa in the 0-99 block of North Island Avenue and arranged for a massage while other investigators waited in a squad car nearby, Mazza said. During the incident, the woman giving the massage offered to perform a sex act in exchange for money, according to Batavia police. The officer then stopped the massage and notified investigators outside, according to police.

Jin Mie Zhang, 55, whose address is the same as Superb Spa's, was charged with one count of prostitution. Police think she was living at the spa part-time, Mazza said.


At 1:08 p.m., the same undercover investigator asked for a massage at Gem Spa in the 300 block of East Wilson Street while the team of investigators again waited in a car nearby. The woman giving the massage offered to perform a sex act for money, and the officer ended the massage and contacted investigators outside, according to police.


Tong Liu, 22, of the 2100 block of South China Place, Chicago, was charged at Gem Spa with a single count of prostitution.

Both women were released on $150 bond and are scheduled to appear June 7 in Kane County Branch Court.

Both Superb Spa and Gem Spa have been open for less than a year, and this was the first time police conducted a compliance check on the two businesses, Mazza said.

In April, massage licenses were revoked for three massage spas in nearby St. Charles that violated their licenses. Employees at two of the spas also were charged with prostitution, and both are scheduled to appear in court later this month.

In St. Charles, the liquor control commission, headed by the mayor, oversees massage parlors and spas.

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