Prostitution arrests lead to 2nd New City massage shutdown - The Journal News | LoHud.com

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The Keum Tree Spa in New City was shut down by Rockland County after a series of arrests for prostitution. Video by Seth Harrison/The Journal News

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Workers from a moving company remove items Thursday from Keum Tree Day Spa, located behind a strip mall on South Little Tor Road in New City. Rockland County closed down the spa after prostitution arrests there.(Photo: Seth Harrison/The Journal News)Buy Photo


NEW CITY - Rockland County has shut down a second massage parlor where repeated prostitution arrests had been made.

Keum Tree Spa, tucked behind a shopping center at the corner of South Little Tor and New Valley roads, had been the site of three sting operations that resulted in prostitution arrests in 2009 and 2013, according to the county.

Just before the eviction order was carried out by Rockland County Sheriff’s deputies Thursday afternoon, several women who said they were taking measurements for an architect were inside the spa. One wall held an acupuncture chart, and a series of small rooms lined a hallway leading to a back room containing a pair of saunas.

FINED: Shuttered New City Spa fined $800,000

Minutes later, workers from Santiego Moving and Storage began removing items from the business.

The county along with Rockland District Attorney Thomas Zugibe have been seeking to oust the business, owned by Three Boys Management Corp. of Mahwah, New Jersey, since 2014, County Attorney Thomas Humbach said Thursday.

"As of yesterday they were doing business," Humbach said. "We showed up with a moving truck today but they cleared out in the middle of the night. Now we have the key and this location is finished."

He said the county has a pending nuisance-law case in state Supreme Court seeking $1,000-a-day fines against the owner, and used landlord-tenant laws to evict the business right away. The county is also seeking an injunction that would hold the owners in contempt if they reopen.

A representative of the company and attorneys connected with the case could not be reached for comment Thursday.

This is the second time Rockland has shut down a Clarkstown massage parlor using a statute in the county code that prohibits a public nuisance. In August, the owner of the New City Spa at 55-71 S. Main St. was ordered to pay about $800,000 for violating the statute.

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