(Memphis) The owner of a massage business in Cordova was busted for allowing women to give massages without a license.
Ocean Spa on Germantown Parkway may also be under investigation for something else as well.
Police have not confirmed that the massage business is being investigated for human trafficking, but we found court documents showing the owner has been bringing in new women all the time.
If you want to learn more about its services, all you have to do is go to www.backpage.com.
The site, notorious for promoting prostitution, has a full list of what Ocean Spa offers.
You can also find comments about the business on a website that reviews erotic massage parlors in Memphis.
“How many times have police come here?” asked reporter Sabrina Hall.
“Once or twice, but I don’t know what it was about,” said a woman who works next door.
The woman says she’s never seen anything out of the ordinary except police.
Officers arrested the owner, Kun Jiang, Tuesday for allowing women to give massages without a license.
Court records also say the owner has been replacing his women employees about once a month, bringing in new unlicensed women from all over the country.
“I see them come into work and I see them leave,” said the woman.
Whether the business goes beyond body scrubs and foot massages, as its advertisements promote, Karen Craig says any unlicensed massage businesses should be shut down.
“I wish every person who is not qualified to do massage would be taken out of it,” said Craig, an instructor with the Massage Institute of Memphis.
Craig says licensed massage therapists spend thousands of dollars on school, take at least 500 hours of classes, have to pass a national exam, and pay licensing fees.
She says anyone working without a license could be a danger, “That’s why we have a law because you can hurt people when you put too much pressure on them.”
Not only that, a license often separates medical professionals from those you might come across on backpage.com.
“You have to get a license or stop touching the public,” said Craig.
Jiang is only being held in jail on a $100 bond, but for some reason he hasn’t bonded out yet.
