Stings Target Madams Posing as Masseuses
A pair of busts net dozens of women selling sex under guise of massage therapy.
July 23, 2008— -- Massage may be an ancient form of therapy, but prostitution is the oldest profession on earth.
In a pair of targeted busts in the Southeast -- one in Macon, Ga., and the other in Broward County, Fla. -- police arrested what they said were dozens of prostitutes hiding behind the guise of massage therapy to sell customers sexual favors.
Over two phases of "Operation Massage Parlor," undercover officers from the Macon Police Department have made 21 arrests at eight different businesses across the 100,000-population Central Georgia city.
Various charges include keeping a house of prostitution, masturbation for hire, solicitation of prostitution and simple prostitution, according to Macon police. The suspects range in age from 17 to 70 and were arrested between June 26 and 27, and July 15 and 17.
"The woman would solicit the sexual act and at that time the officer would identify himself as a police officer and would make an arrest," Sgt. Melanie Hoffman, spokeswoman for the Macon Police Department, told ABCNews.com.
Five establishments were shut down in Macon and arrests were made at several others. In only two of the parlors targeted by police did the women not offer undercover officers sexual favors for money.
In the second phase of the operation, carried out last week, Macon officers arrested three women at the All American Spa and Massage on Wednesday and came back the following night to make two more arrests at the same location.
There are more than 5,000 licensed massage therapists in the state of Georgia, according to the secretary of state's office. Licenses require practitioners to receive training that educates them on the do's and don'ts of massage therapy -- including restrictions on sexual contact.
Macon Mayor Robert Reichert said that many local massage parlors go to great lengths to circumvent license restrictions while presenting would-be customers with advertisements heavy on sexual overtones. Billboards on the drive into the city, he said, feature attractive women with "seductive looks" offering massage services.
