Apple Valley Massage Parlor Busted For Prostitution
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. (WCCO) -- The owners of a Twin Cities massage parlor have been busted for prostitution and other illegal activities.
Apple Valley Police said iMassage owner Andy Ming-Lueng Kor admitted to them that he knew sexual activities were happening in his parlor, which is located in a strip mall off 149th Street.
Kor and his wife, Yin Hsin Chu, face three misdemeanor offenses, including prostitution.
Police said massages at iMassage weren't just therapeutic. They were erotic, where women were massage therapists and men their willing customers.
The criminal complaint from Dakota County details a customer's experience on Jan. 19. The customer that said he was inappropriately touched when he went for a massage.
He said that he paid upfront for a one hour massage, and "during the massage, the female began touching his testicles and penis," the complaint detailed.
The customer reported the situation to Apple Valley Police.
Officers started investigating the business the next day and said they found reviews of sexual services that customers posted online at Erotic Massage Review.
Two weeks ago, a licensed Apple Valley police officer made a massage appointment with a female therapist at iMassage. The complaint states that during that massage, "the officer indicated by rubbing the female's lower calf that he was interested in sexual services."
The complaint goes on to say that "the female brushed against the officer's testicles and buttocks area" and then "touched the area around the officer's penis and began to masturbate him," before the officer told the female to stop.
Apple Valley Police shut down the business.
In the meantime, the city wants to better-regulate massage parlors. A new ordinance would require more than 20 massage businesses to have a license. The therapists who work at the parlors would also need a license and a background check.
"We want to make certain those businesses are operating in a way that is appropriate in our community," said Tom Lawell, Apple Valley's city adminstrator. "It will be intended to make certain the storefronts in our community that operate under the guise of massage are operating under legitimate massage services."
The hope is to cut down on illegal activity, like the alleged activity that happened at iMassage.
