AUSTINTOWN Worker at Japanese Spa faces prostitution charge

Police will work with the county prosecutor's office to determine if the spa should be charged as a result of the arrest.
AUSTINTOWN -- Police say a woman offered a sex act to an undercover source Wednesday at the Japanese Spa on Mahoning Avenue.
Yong Suk North, 54, is charged by police with prostitution and being an unlicensed masseuse. She gave her address as the Japanese Sauna.
Police said their undercover source, who was wearing a recorder, went into the spa and paid North $40 for a massage around 4 p.m. North took the source to a private room and told him to take off his clothes and lie on a massage table.
After about 10 minutes of massaging him, North asked if he wanted his genitals to be massaged. The source asked North how much it would cost, but she did not respond. She then became reluctant and asked the source if he had been at the spa in the past.
When the source said yes, North began to massage his genitals. When the source asked North if she provided any other services, she said only that she gave a "good massage," reports state.
Police then came into the spa and talked to North, who said she was a cook.
Sought a license
Reports state that North had asked the township for a masseuse license in October and was denied because she is facing charges related to work as a masseuse in Tennessee.
In 2000, police arrested Myong Sun Teel, 41, of Las Vegas, at the spa for offering a sex act to an undercover Mahoning County deputy sheriff. Both the spa and the woman faced charges after the arrest.
Teel pleaded guilty to soliciting and working as a masseuse without a license and agreed to leave the township.
A Mahoning County magistrate later ruled that Teel was a subcontractor and that the spa could not be charged with permitting an unlicensed masseuse to work.
Police Chief Gordon Ellis said police would work with the Mahoning County prosecutor's office to determine if the spa should be charged as a result of North's arrest.
Police also conducted an inspection of the spa Wednesday. The spa failed to meet five of the 14 criteria in the inspection.
Those five criteria include a requirement to keep clean towels in a closed cabinet away from dirty towels, which must be stored in a separate container.
The criteria also state that the spa and its masseuses must have their permits on display at all times, and that all masseuses must have a license.