Council Closes Southside Massage Parlor

A massage parlor suspected of engaging in human trafficking was effectively closed by the Milwaukee Common Council.

On Feb. 8 the council voted unanimously to deny renewing the massage establishment license for Charm Spa, 5726 W. Oklahoma Ave.

Neither Milwaukee Police Department, neighbors nor area Alderman Mark Borkowski have hard evidence human trafficking did occur there. But there is evidence that Charm Spa at the very least misrepresented what it offered.

The business opened in 2020, just before the pandemic took hold.

“What intrigued me is the proprietors said they wanted to specialize in athletic injuries,” said Borkowski on Jan. 25 to members of the Licenses Committee. “Initially I had zero problems with them because I wanted to give them a chance and I believed them… a couple months later social media blew up and totally caught me off guard.”

Neighbors noticed that the business posted a series of pictures of young Asian women with its phone number displayed atop them. The photos, phone number and business name also appear on websites like WorldEscortsHub and XEscortHub where the supposed employees are promoted as “sweet and sexy” and their bust size is provided.

“These are very, very attractive young women,” said Borkowski while waving a packet of photos during the hearing. “The impression when someone looks at these pictures, it doesn’t take much of a reach, right? I see these women I assume I am going to see these women when I come into the place. At the very least that is misleading.”

Owner Zhenbo Guo, through a translator, blamed it on an advertising company.

“That advertising agency has been terminated,” said attorney Luke J. Chiarelli. “We did acknowledge your warning and it is already taken care of.”

But Alderwoman Nikiya Dodd opened the Facebook page during the hearing and said the photos were not removed.

The ads were only the tip of the iceberg for Borkowski. He went as far as to stake the business out.

“I watched your customers. I watched who came in,” said the alderman. “I’m not saying this to make a joke. I didn’t see anybody on like crutches. I didn’t see anybody that looked like they had an athletic injury… right or wrong, what I witnessed was white men, 25 to 40, no variation.”

“I can make the supposition that things that are happening in your facility are not legitimate, however, I do not have proof,” he said.

Area resident Joette Rockow also staked out the business. She said a similar business on W. Oklahoma Ave. closer to her house was shut down for human trafficking.

“I have watched nothing but men walk into Charm Spa, walk out of Charm Spa a few minutes later, all day long,” said Rockow.

But did she have any proof of human trafficking asked Chiarelli? She admitted she did not, it only fit the pattern of what happened at the other, unidentified business.

Chiarelli said police officers who made repeated visits to the business also didn’t find any proof, a fact backed up the police report provided by MPD.

“We have an entire year’s worth of record of, I guess, perfect attendance in the community and no violations,” said Chiarelli.

Ald. Milele A. Coggs asked if the business had any male employees? No said Guo.

Guo also said most, but not all, of the customers were men. A search for online reviews of the business shows almost entirely male customers, at least one of which came in expecting the women in the photos. “They post pictures of young women but have a 60-year-old lady there, and the prices are higher than other massage place[s],” says one Google review.

Borkowski, a member of the committee, said he would not make a motion on what to do with the license.

“I’m going to take the coward’s way out and ask my colleagues to make a motion for whatever action they deem appropriate, with my vote being to support my constituents,” he said.

Dodd moved to deny the license renewal.

“I really do not know what I did wrong,” said Guo through a translator.

Guo did not contest the nonrenewal at the Feb. 8 council meeting. The business is listed as “permanently closed” on Facebook.

In 2019 Guo was denied a special use permit to open a massage parlor in Greenfield on S. 108th St. A nearby business owner said the prior massage parlor at the location was a front for a prostitution business. The address originally use in Charm Spa Inc.’s 2019 incorporation filing is a West Allis address where a prostitution bust occurred in January 2020.

UPDATE: An earlier version of the article said Coggs asked if the business had any female employees. She asked if it had any male employees. The business, according to its representatives, has only female employees.