Doors to stay closed at 'questionable' Santa Fe Springs massage parlor - The...

[massage]

A Santa Fe Springs massage parlor shut down in February when city officials discovered its masseuses were not licensed massage therapists will not be allowed to reopen, city leaders decided Tuesday.

“It sounded like it was more than just a massage parlor,” Councilman Richard Moore said Wednesday by phone. “From the information given to us, it looked like it’s being used more for sex than massages.”

Garret Biggs, owner of Mi Amor at 11416 Washington Blvd., went to the city Planning Commission on July 10, looking to get a use permit to reopen his business. When the city declined, Biggs appealed to the City Council, which voted unanimously Tuesday to uphold the Planning Commission’s decision.

Luis Collazo, code enforcement inspector, told the council Tuesday that inspectors in October 2016 and in February 2017 found that female employees didn’t have their required California Massage Therapy Council certificates.

In addition, there were many “questionable things” going on at the business, Collazo said.

At a Feb. 7 inspection, he saw a woman he described as “pretty much in her underwear” coming out after tending to a customer.

“Another female ran off out the back door and was intercepted (by police officers),” Collazo said. “Her clothes were on the floor. I didn’t see any ointment which would have led me to believe” people were receiving actual massages.

The council staff report goes into more details about employees wearing “see-through lingerie” teddies and one who was holding an unraveled condom in a tissue as she was answering a police officer’s questions.

Biggs told the council his employees may have made some mistakes because he was out of the country on vacation during these inspections. He said his business, which opened last year, is legitimate.

“There are no tinted windows,” he said. “There’s no privacy from the front parking lot. You can see into it. We didn’t build it for discreteness. There’s a water fountain inside. It’s a class A location.”

Biggs said his business may have deserved to be punished, but shutting him down was too much.

“If I was doing funny business, I wouldn’t be here speaking to you face to face,” Biggs said. “I want some understanding of sympathy. Allow us to continue.”

However, the council members refused.

Mayor William Rounds said Wednesday he stood by the decision.

“No one had a valid card and that’s one of the requirements they have to stay in business,” he said.

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