Unhappy ending for 12 dirty Bay Ridge massage parlors - New York Daily News

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[h=4]Christie M Farriella/for New York Daily News[/h] [h=4]The shuttered Shirley Day Spa located at 7811 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.[/h]
It was an unhappy ending for a dozen dirty massage parlors, raided for prostitution after residents of a Brooklyn neighborhood complained of suspicious spas popping up in recent months.
Owners of three salons, concentrated around Bay Ridge, as well as 16 workers, were arrested, the authorities announced Thursday. More shady establishments may be targeted in the future, they said.
"We know that people in Bay ridge have back pain but we don't think it's enough to sustain" so many massage parlors, said Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly. "What's unique here is the rapid proliferation."
The year-long investigation started in response to residents' complaints, grousing about the many day spas that suddenly sprouted up around the blue-collar neighborhood. Some solicited customers outside, stayed open into the late hours, and covered their windows with black shades.
And it wasn't only clients' necks that were stiff, with some parlors offering a full range of sexual services, posting explicit ads on websites like craigslist.com and backpage.com, officials alleged.
"It seemed almost overnight that our bucolic neighborhoods of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights were becoming more like the old 42nd St.," said City Councilman Vincent Gentile. "And that was just unacceptable to us."
Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes, who resides in the neighborhood, said he has "no idea" what attracted all the soft-handed spa operators to the area.
He said that at this point there is no evidence of a direct connection between the seedy salons, but added "there's a strong suspicion" they might be linked, partly because the girls who were collared gave investigators similar answers.

[h=4]Christie M Farriella/for New York Daily News[/h] [h=4]A sign on the shuttered Shirley Day Spa located at 7811 5th Avenue in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.[/h]
Four of the raided establishments were shuttered because owners didn't pay workers compensation and authorities were working on closing the rest for being a nuisance.
The alleged prostitutes will be evaluated to see if they were victims of sex trafficking, then would be referred to appropriate programs, Hynes said.
Larry Morrish, 62, sitting outside Shirley Day Spa on Fifth Ave., where the owner and two women were arrested, said he once saw two partially undressed women in the store's front window.
"It's great that they closed it down," he said.
The accused sex workers, all of Asian descent, were being arraigned and released at Brooklyn criminal Court Thursday afternoon. Nearly all were charged with being an unlicensed masseuse.
They didn't answer questions, signaling they didn't speak English.
"These people had no idea," said lawyer Alan Stutman, who represented four of them. "They didn't think they were doing anything illegal. They were working for a boss."
With Andy Mai