Oswego trustees have authorized the police department to develop an ordinance that would require massage parlors to get local licenses to operate in a storefront.
The new regulations would allow police to do background checks on massage parlor owners and workers. It would also allow police to monitor operations.
Other changes would amend an existing zoning ordinance that would require massage parlors to operate as a special use rather than as a permitted use in a business district.
Citizens’ concerns about some of the village’s massage businesses, including where they were advertising, the websites they were using and that people might be spending the night, prompted Oswego police to look into the businesses and see if any illegal activity was going on.
“Typically we get information from the community. Sometimes residents are the first in the know about things,” Oswego Police Chief Jeff Burger said.
On Nov. 9, Kendall County deputies arrested a 52-year-old woman at Lavender Therapy on the 5000 block of Route 34. Xiuhua Liao, 52, was living at the business, where she also worked, according to police. She’s charged with prostitution and unlicensed massage. She has a court appearance set for Nov. 28.
The day before, on Nov. 8, Oswego police arrested a 46-year-old woman with a Montgomery address at the massage spa she owns on the first block of Merchants Drive. FengJu Li, 46, the owner of Dream Spa, is charged with prostitution and aiding and abetting unlicensed massage. Li is free on a signature bond with a pending court appearance Dec. 4.
The village of Oswego also ticketed Dream Spa for violating the building occupancy code.
An Oswego police sting last month at N Spa on the 4500 block of Route 71 led to charges against two women in their 50s.
Yiling Peng, 55, whose address is in the same block as the spa, was charged with prostitution and unlicensed massage, both class A misdemeanors. Yune Zhou, 50, of the 1800 block of South Melody Court in Chicago, was charged with aiding and abetting an unlicensed massage, also a class A misdemeanor.
The village of Oswego ticketed N Spa for a building occupancy code ordinance violation, police said.
Burgner said currently these types of businesses need only be registered with the village. The state of Illinois requires message therapists to have state licensing.
Burgner suggested there be provisions in the ordinance that would exempt certain areas of the profession, such as athletic trainers, chiropractors or schools training people to become licensed massage therapists.
He also suggested the village assign a commissioner, similar to having a liquor control commissioner, that has oversight authority on licenses. The police chief said the licenses could be renewed annually.
He said the ordinance could set a dress code for therapists conducting the massages and regulate advertising.
“There can be advertising restrictions so if they are advertising on certain websites or websites where it appears to be false advertising, that was one of the issues that drew us to these places and started our investigation,” Burgner said.
Burgner said it’s important not to “penalize” those that are operating legitimate businesses.
Linda Girardi is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.