Last spring, Evesham Chief of Police Christopher Chew used several Evesham Township Council meetings to speak about what he called an “epidemic” going across the state — massage parlors being used as fronts for illicit activities and the exchange of sexual favors.
To combat the issue, Chew successfully petitioned council to pass an ordinance that established a set of regulations under the office of community development to which massage parlors already in the town or seeking to move into town must comply.
At its Oct. 5 meeting, council approved the first list of five massage therapy establishments in town that have gone through the rules and regulations deemed necessary by the ordinance.
“It’s a process that we’re legitimizing the businesses,” Chew said. “We still have a couple more applications that we’re processing through community development that will also be at the next council meeting.”
When Chew first sought the ordinance, he noted that over the past several years, his department had seen nine investigations into massage parlors in the township being used as fronts for illicit activities.
Chew outlined a list of issues routinely found in the facilities related to organized crime, such as elements of human trafficking and prostitution, in addition to health hazards and sexually transmitted diseases and even MRSA because the illicit establishments were not properly cleaning their facilities.
The ordinance Chew lobbied for, which he said was similar to those in municipalities across the state, specifically prohibits owners and operators of massage therapy establishments from tolerating any activity that breaks state laws related to prostitution, indecency and obscenity.
The ordinance also allows the department to conduct reasonable, although unannounced, inspections of massage therapy establishments, at which time all pertinent records and proof of valid state licenses for the establishment and employees must be available for review.
At all other times, a massage therapy establishment must display its state-issued licenses, as well as the state-issued license of each employed massage therapist, in an open and conspicuous place of the premises.
Also prohibited in the ordinance is the hiring of therapists not licensed through the state’s Massage and Bodywork Therapist Licensing Act, and no area of an establishment used for massages can be used for or connected with a bedroom or sleeping quarters.
Massage establishment applicants must also pay the township an annual registration fee of $250, at which time they must submit copies of establishment and massage therapist licenses, and town council must approve each application for a massage establishment registration or renewal.
“The establishments complied with all our background checks, all the forms that had to be filled out … it was a lot of work,” Evesham Township manager Tom Czerniecki said.
