Providence hauling massage parlor owner into court; it's other way ... - The...

[massage]

In a lawsuit filed at Superior Court last week, the owners of two parlors accuse Pawtucket officials of discrimination against Asians for a so-called "body works" ordinance intended to root out illicit massage parlors. Providence officials used a similar ordinance on Wednesday to close a massage parlor.

Amanda Milkovits Journal Staff Writer amandamilkovits
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — The City of Providence ordered Smilers Day Spa to close Wednesday and gave the owner a court summons after police charged one worker with prostitution and found that none of the women there were licensed to perform massages or "body works."

However, just a few miles away in Pawtucket, it's the massage parlors that are taking the city to court. In a lawsuit filed at Superior Court last week, the owners of Far East and Harmony Spa accuse Pawtucket officials of discrimination against Asians for a so-called "body works" ordinance intended to root out illicit massage parlors.

The two cities have similar ordinances, with different outcomes.

In Providence, all of the massage parlors closed in 2015 when police and city license officials began enforcing a body-works ordinance. After Larry Chow and Naja Ho closed their North Main Street Spa, which had survived several prostitution raids, their daughter Monica Chow reopened the business as Smilers.

The police say the name was different but the business was the same.

An old North Main Street Spa sign remains inside the small lobby where, on Thursday, one man after another was turned away.

Inside the small office, where a computer screen showed nine views from outside surveillance cameras, Naja Ho declined comment on behalf of her daughter.

"I think we open next week," she told a Journal reporter.

The city sees it differently.

Monica Chow, 24, is ordered to Municipal Court for two counts of violating a body-works establishment license. Zhenchun Jin, 51, pleaded not guilty to soliciting an undercover detective for prostitution. The police said they found three other women hiding in the back of the building in makeshift living quarters. None had either city licenses to perform body works or state licenses as massage therapists.

Providence City Councilman David Salvatore, who sponsored the body-works ordinance, said these massage parlors are "fronts for the sex trade."

"I was happy to see they took steps to shut down Smilers," Salvatore said. "The only way to eradicate prostitution and protect women is to send a message in Providence that when it comes to illegal businesses, they will be prosecuted."

In Pawtucket, the massage parlors have operated undisturbed for years. There've been no reported police action. After the city passed a body-works ordinance, the spas got a lawyer and got the city to back off.

After Gov. Gina Raimondo signed a law last year to enable municipalities with body-works ordinances, Pawtucket city councilors reworked their measure again.

In December, Pawtucket sent out letters to 15 to 18 businesses that offer body works and gave a deadline of Jan. 13 for compliance, said City Clerk Richard Goldstein said. That included Far East, Harmony and Pleasant Spa, which all have advertisements on adult websites.

Far East and Harmony responded with a lawsuit, saying the ordinance was over-broad and accusing the city of targeting Asians. Lawyer Gary Blais also says the personal information required in the applications will make employees "open targets for any crazed, mentally ill, or depraved individual that may roam the internet" and subject them to blackmail.

The case will go to a hearing on declaratory action before Superior Court Judge Richard Licht on March 31.

Meanwhile, unlike at Smilers, the men going to Harmony Spa on Thursday were not turned away.

amilkovi@providencejournal.com

(401) 277-7213

On Twitter @AmandaMilkovits

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