Undercover operation leads to closing of a Taylorville massage parlor - newschannel20.com

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SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS — An undercover operation has led to an arrest at a Taylorville massage parlor. That parlor has also now been shut down.

Taylorville's Police Chief, Dwayne Wheeler, told me the police department created an undercover team to look into the massage parlor, after receiving multiple complaints about the business.

“We did get a couple complaints,” Wheeler said. “People came in and said that ‘I went there just for a massage, and it felt like they wanted more.’”

The Lotus Massage Parlor opened in Taylorville about six months ago. When customers of the parlor went to the police department with concerns, Wheeler said his team jumped into action.

“We got an undercover officer to go in there,” Wheeler said. “The officer went in there to get a massage to see if he was going to be solicited, which he came back out and he was.”

Chief Wheeler said this sting operation was in the works for about a month and officers were able to make an arrest. Since the incident is still under investigation, he would not release the name of the suspect.

“Other officers went inside, approached a female and took her into custody,” Wheeler said. “We learned that she’s from Minnesota, she’s Asian and she didn’t speak much English.”

The Lotus Massage Parlor can no longer operate as a business and the Taylorville Mayor, Bruce Barry, told me his great rapport with the owner of the building made the process of closing the parlor an easy one.

“The police chief and I called him, he came in here for a meeting and he said, ‘I don’t want any part of this,’” Barry said. ‘“I don’t want this in my business,’ so he voluntarily shut it down.”

Mayor Barry added the city has not required massage parlors to have licenses to operate, but they are in the process of making changes.

“But we are in the process of drawing up an ordinance where we’re going to start licensing these massage parlors,” Barry said. “ Not the ones that are legitimate of course. We’ll make them pay a minimal fee and go from there.”

Chief Wheeler told me the woman was arrested for solicitation of a sex act, which is a misdemeanor. The suspect had her fingerprints taken, received a court date and was released.

Chief Wheeler added the police department is not investigating this as a human trafficking case at this time.