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Niles law director seeks to toughen regulations on lone massage parlor
By Jordan Cohen
NILES
The city law director says there is only one reason for imposing newer and tougher regulations on Niles’ lone massage parlor.
“It’s to prevent sex trafficking, and we say it in the first section of the ordinance,” said Law Director Terry Dull as he presented the proposed draft to the council safety committee Wednesday. Council expects to give the draft a first reading at its next meeting April 20.
Niles has a moratorium on licensing any additional massage parlors.
Dull said he drafted the changes to the city’s ordinance with the help of Jean Waris, co-chairwoman of the Human Trafficking Core Team of the Mahoning Valley Organizing Collaborative. Waris, who attended Wednesday’s committee meeting, said her concern is for the victims of some massage parlors often dentified as Asian girls, some as young as 15, who are brought to the United States, speak no English and are forced to work as prostitutes.
“They’re brought here legally, think they’re coming here for a legitimate purpose, and at first it’s an adventure,” said Nate Brown, an MVOC staff member, “but then they’re told, ‘Now you owe us,’ and at some point they’re probably raped.”
One of the new provisions in Dull’s proposal provides immunity for victims of trafficking if they cooperate with police. Waris said the girls or young women are often afraid to tell investigators what is going on.
“We need to get the girls away from [their handlers] because they’re scared and they’re conditioned to say what they’ve been told to say,” Waris said.
Other additions to the ordinance include a requirement for applicants and businesses to show immigration and work authority status, and prohibiting them from operating between midnight and 8 a.m.
The only massage parlor in Niles is Susi Kims on Youngstown-Warren Road. Mayor Ralph Infante said the business has no record of prostitution or sex-related offenses and is licensed annually.
“We conduct surprise unannounced inspections of them several times a year,” the mayor said.
A woman who answered the phone at the massage parlor said she could not understand the questions being asked and declined to comment.
Dull said that the city’s previous ordinance regulating the parlors was successfully challenged nearly 20 years ago but believes the revisions will “play out in court.” He also plans to examine whether the new ordinance might negatively impact licensed massotherapists.
To give him time to review, the committee decided against passing the revision as an emergency measure and has opted for individual readings starting with next week’s meeting.
That would mean the ordinance could be passed in six weeks.
Niles’ action comes at the same time Warren police investigate their city’s 10 massage parlors. The Vindicator reported Sunday that several websites contain postings from men who claim to have had sex at some of the parlors, their allegations denied by several parlor operators.
Meanwhile, the MVOC and the Trumbull County Human Trafficking Commission have scheduled a public meeting at the Warren YWCA on North Park Avenue at 6 p.m. April 26 to discuss the controversy. Waris said local, state and federal officeholders have been invited.