City of Lacey cracking down on illegal activity within massage parlors

After receiving plenty of complaints and feedback from the community, the City of Lacey is increasing its efforts to shut down businesses doubling as prostitution rings.

According to local officials, the Lacey Police Department (LPD) is investigating seven massage parlors in Lacey that are suspected of offering more than massages, causing growing concerns about prostitution and human trafficking infiltrating the community.

“The community is going and seeking legitimate services and have realized that these places are probably performing prostitution and other types of activities, and that’s not what they’re interested in getting,” Lacey Police Chief Robert Almada told KOMO News.

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Investigations into these businesses have been ongoing for the past year, believing these businesses were participating in illegal practices. Among their findings, LPD found that some employees didn’t appear to know to do a massage, while others worked while dressed in lingerie. Some of the businesses had unconventional tipping practices requests, and others had “unusual” hours of operation.

The community has also complained to LPD that female customers have been denied services at some of these establishments.

Tangentially, the city council is expected to propose an updated ordinance regarding licensing, certification and hours of operation for massage parlors and other similar businesses.

“They must have the proper certifications,” Almada said. “They wouldn’t be allowed to employ minors at the location and their hours of operation would be defined in this ordinance, so they can’t be open all night hours.”

Massage licenses are issued by the Washington State Board of Massage and massage therapists in his state must have a license before practicing. The updated ordinance will make sure “licenses are present and visible on the wall or within the facilities,” according to The Olympian, while also increasing the responsibility of the owner to ensure that everybody employed is licensed.

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“As someone who had an office next to one of these services, I could tell you that I was very concerned about what was happening next door to my business office, so I appreciate the police work on this and I look forward to hopefully updating this municipal code as soon as we possibly can,” Lacey Mayor Andy Ryder told The Olympian.

The city council is expected to vote later this month on the amended ordinance, citing the damage to the reputations of legitimate massage parlors will hurt the community at large.

Frank Sumrall is a content editor at MyNorthwest. You can read his stories here and you can email him here.