Branford Cracking Down On Massage Parlors

The town’s top health, police, fire and planning & zoning officials want to get out in front of illegal massage parlors that seem to find ways to open their businesses overnight without permits, inspections or oversight. 

Several months ago the top department heads began talking about the issue at the weekly Monday Town Hall meetings First Selectman Unk DaRos holds for all department heads. ​“We wanted to see what we could do collectively and our health director wanted to find a way to impose rules. Restaurants have them under the health code, for example, but not massage parlors,” Police Capt. Geoffrey Morgan said in recalling the event. 

“There is nothing in place,” said Police Chief Kevin Halloran.

Illegal massage parlors operating as houses of prostitution come in under the radar, with no planning or zoning restrictions or any other regulation, for that matter, he and Morgan said in a recent interview. 
 
Typically these shops are not legitimate massage parlors, but fast-paced prostitution operations run by out-of-state owners employing Asian women.

These illegal businesses pose as legitimate massage parlors and may also find ways to bypass state licensing laws enacted last year. Even if they do comply with state laws, the town is without an inspection or permitting process that gives health officials the ability to shut them down. In short, once they open for business there is little or no way for officials to monitor them short of a long police surveillance that costs time and money but typically fails in court.

DaRos told the Eagle he asked Second Selectman Andy Campbell, who wrote the town’s adult entertainment ordinance when he served on the Representative Town Meeting (RTM), to write a new ordinance aimed at setting regulations for massage parlor operations. Campbell, an attorney, is now running for the first selectman’s position.
 
Campbell’s proposed new ordinance, a copy of which was given to the RTM”s rules and ordinance committee earlier this month, will apply to the roughly 20 legitimate businesses as well as to the illegal ones. Over the years there have been at least half dozen or more prostitution operations that have operated openly in town. Last month East Haven and North Haven police closed down two illegal massage parlors that were an open secret for years.

Getting the Legitimate Owners on Board

The next step for town officials will be to meet with legitimate spa and massage parlor owners to explain the proposed ordinance and to enlist their aid.

“From the beginning our intention was to meet to with the legitmate spa and massage parlor owners to talk about the problems we have with the illegitimate massage parlors and to try to develop solutions to prevent these illegitimate businesses from coming in to town,” Halloran said.

He said East Shore Health would be the lead agency on this ordinance ​“and any massage parlor would have to go through them, to be licensed and so forth.” This would conform to the 2012 state law which says masseuses have to be licensed in the state of Connecticut. 

“There was never any intent to try to hurt existing businesses financially or in any way. It was our belief and thought that the legitimate businesses in town would really like to distinguish themselves from the illegitimate business,” the police chief said. Some legitimate business owners indicated concern after Campbell took his proposed ordinance to the RTM. 

Halloran, Campbell and Michael Pascucilla, director of health for the East Shore District Health Department, along with fire and planning officials, say they want to take pro-active steps to gain some authority over illegal massage parlor operations. 

“In reality this is a step forward for crime and health prevention in our community. A lot of work needs to be done,” Morgan added. 
Everyone we spoke to connected to the proposed ordinance said it needs to be tweaked here and there and all agreed that input from the legitimate business owners was essential. 

Oriental Spa Investigation

In 2010, the police spent months investigating the ​“business” of prostitution at Marlow’s Health Studio. A number of arrests followed. Information from Craigslist led police directly to Marlow’s, where a house of prostitution was allegedly operating openly at a popular town mall.

Since then police have investigated other prostitution establishments. In April the Branford police arrested three people, two women and a man, all 50 years old, and charged them with promoting prostitution at the Oriental Spa, a business storefront at 116 North Main St. The 900 square foot store ( now vacant) is located in a small shopping mall. ( see photo above) It was located near Cedar Street, not far from exit 54 off I‑95. The three people told police they lived there.

Complaints about the Oriental Spa were made to East Shore Health officials and to the police, Morgan said. After the complaints, the police undertook a three month surveillance of the spa, which began on Jan 14, 2013. It showed that all the patrons were males.

The spa advertised having ​“a happy ending” at the end of the massage.

On April 5 police initiated a prostitution sting investigation and subsequently arrested the three employees and armed with a search warrant seized numerous documents and laptops. The case is still pending in New Haven Superior Court. 

New Massage Parlor Ordinance

Under the proposed ordinance, any massage establishment would first have to obtain a state license to practice massage therapy as well as a permit to operate a massage business. That permit would be obtained from East Shore Health after having received approval from the police chief.

With a new ordinance, which Campbell said he hopes the current RTM will approve before its term ends in October, the town receives a new set of powers to oversee massage parlor operations. If, for example, a massage parlor permit holder does not permit ​“a reasonable inspection of the premises” or ​“the operation therein” or hinders the inspection, then the permit may be revoked or suspended.

The new ordinance would also require police background checks, a common request for those working in numerous businesses and at public and private schools across the nation. 

Businesses routinely seek employment background checks in order to pre-screen job applicants who may have a criminal record. They do so because of liability issues down the line if they don’t pre-screen employees. The proposed ordinance requires a criminal background check, not an unusual request given the nature of this business.

Indeed, Connecticut law requires all public school employees hired on or after July 1, 1994, to submit to state and national criminal history record checks when they are hired. 

Under a new Massachusetts law, teachers at public and private schools, workers at child care centers and school bus drivers must now submit fingerprints for criminal background checks. Overall, 42 states have laws requiring criminal background checks for teachers and other school employees.

The cost to apply for a massage parlor permit, including the police background check is $150.00. A permit for a masseuse, which includes a provision that the masseuse be trained and has no prior criminal conviction, will be $100.

These figures are not set in stone nor are the dates for renewal of licenses, which may be extended from one year to two years. The ordinance, which Campbell wrote, is six pages long and is likely to be shortened once reviewed by the RTM committee and the town attorney. 

One reason why towns are interested in developing their own ordinances is that a town’s local regulation may be tougher than the current state law. For example, violation of the state’s new 2012 massage parlor law leads to a class C misdemeanor, which holds a 90 day sentence.

But if those crimes are not committed by a Connecticut resident, the New Haven court system is unlikely to spend the time and money to track down violators who engage in a low level misdemeanor violation. 

A local ordinance, the police say, would provide for inspections, much the way that restaurants are inspected. ​“More importantly the town would get the ability to suspend an operation for a violation. It gives the administration cohesiveness among all the departments in the initial application. They may review what business is going in and perform some background checks, Capt. Morgan said.

Chief Halloran added that ​“It is not our role to go in an inspect businesses to make sure they are up to code,” but the health department and fire marshal or building inspector could do that. And if there are issues, they can report it to us,” he said.

“I would like to see an ordinance get through to try to prevent illegitimate businesses that are centered on prostitution and human trafficking. We need to do this,” he said.

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