Colonie officials seek to shut down massage parlor
In just over a year, a Colonie massage parlor has been raided for alleged prostitution three separate times. With the most recent arrest coming last week, town officials now finally seek to shut down. Our Matt Hunter has the story.
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
COLONIE, N.Y. -- In an area regarded as one of the Capital Region's safest, Colonie Police have arrested four women at Jasmine's Beauty and Massage Thursday afternoon, for alleged prostitution. It marked the third time since last November the Central Avenue business had been raided.
"It's not good for the town of course, nobody wants prostitution within their boundaries, but you can't anticipate somebody committing a crime," Colonie Town Attorney Michael Magguilli said.
The arrest followed an anonymous email from a customer who recently used the business. Undercover investigators posing as customers, entered the parlor and received unlicensed massages from three employees, and got two of them to agree to perform sexual acts for additional money.
Feng Mei Shi and Yuxia Huang are charged with unauthorized practice of a crime and prostitution, and Yan Ying Wang is charged with unauthorized practice of a crime.
Owner Kuen Ling Cheng, who faces charges of promoting prostitution and permitting prostitution, managed to keep the building open despite the previous raids.
"We thought they were out of business at that time and we didn't realize she was going to go back in and start up the business and go back to her old ways,” Magguilli said. “But this time we're moving and doing everything we can with the law."
Magguilli says his staff is currently investigating whether the business was in violation of various town zoning and land use laws, in hopes of shutting it down. If attorney's determine Ling Cheng is in violation, her case could go before a town justice, where she'd face up to 15 days in jail and a $250 fine for each day she was in violation.
Magguilli says he's also pressuring the Albany County District Attorney’s Office to pursue felony charges.
"We don't usually have this type of activity in the Town of Colonie and we intend to do our best to keep it out and shut down this operation,” said Magguilli.