Warren Health Dept. revokes licenses of city massage parlors

Warren Health Dept. revokes licenses of city massage parlors

By ED RUNYAN

runyan@vindy.com

WARREN

The Warren Health Department has revoked the licenses for the eight massage parlors raided Wednesday morning on the basis that the parlors were fronts for prostitution.

And if that isn’t enough to shut them down permanently, it’s likely that a judge will finish the job by declaring the parlors a nuisance, Warren Police Chief Tim Bowers said late last week.

“I think they will all be vacant buildings very soon,” Bowers said.

As of late last week, Warren police officers had reported to the chief that all eight shops were closed.

Bowers said he couldn’t be happier with the way an investigation was carried out by the Ohio Attorney General’s Office Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation because the approach was comprehensive.

“This was the right way to do this because the effect should be more permanent,” Bowers said of the year-long investigation resulting in search warrants and raids on eight parlors Wednesday that uncovered physical evidence of prostitution.

At one parlor, investigators found hundreds of unused condoms in large zip-lock bags being stored under a false floor in a closet at one of the shops. Unused and used condoms were also found at other parlors, and over $90,000 in cash and sex toys were confiscated.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.