Denville seeks to eliminate illegitimate massage parlors - Daily Record

[massage]

Gene Myers Morristown Daily Record

Published 6:34 PM EDT Jun 12, 2019


DENVILLE — Township leaders have suspended a local massage parlor’s permit and hope they have nipped a growing problem in the bud, authorities said.

Asian Island, at 21 Bloomfield Ave., was cited three times in 2018 and once this year for failure to keep a client list, not sanitizing its tables, not conducting background checks on employees, locking doors during business hours and having sleeping quarters on the premises, according to town officials.

Eight summonses were issued to the business, along with fines in excess of $1,500, authorities said. A May hearing found the charges substantiated, which resulted in the suspension of the business permit until November.

Asian Island and other massage therapy businesses present a thorny problem, local leaders say: how to tell if they are legitimate.

A red flag, law enforcement officials say, is the client list. The state requires massage therapy business owners to maintain such lists, so the absence of one should prompt authorities to look further, said police Capt. Jeffrey Tucker.

Business Administrator Steven Ward estimated that 12 to 14 massage therapy businesses were in operation in town a few years ago. As a result, an ordinance was adopted in 2017 that called for random inspections, including checks for locked doors during business hours, the presence of beds, the lack of a clientele list and the lack of a display that details prices for services offered.

Echoing state law, the local ordinance also requires employers to keep a roster of employees, all of whom have to be screened through background checks.

The owner of Asian Island, Ying Ma, can reapply for a permit in November. Ma was represented by attorney Gregg Trautmann, who said the proceedings against his client were a "kangaroo court" and that Ma was only an employee and not the business owner.

Asian Island is a chain with 13 stores, Trautmann said, which includes one location at the Rockaway Township mall. He disputed the charges but said he did not have the business owner's name at hand.

"They dismissed half of the summonses they issued," he said. "Ying Ma does not own Asian Island. That was the defense all along. She can't be liable for these infractions. She is just a lady who works at the place."

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Trautmann said the owner of Asian Island will not reapply for a permit in November.

Ward said the 2-year-old ordinance has had the desired effect of curtailing the unwanted businesses while not being too onerous for legitimate establishments. He estimates there are currently nine massage therapy businesses in town.

“We know that a couple are no longer in business and that the number has not grown since the ordinance has been in place,” he said. “Even if we don’t get all of the illegitimate establishments, we certainly want to avoid getting any new illegitimate establishments.”

Email: myers@northjersey.com

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