Endings Not-So-Happy For Local Spas Caught Participating in Prostitution

Two local spas have had their licenses revoked by the village this week and are out of business after employees of the businesses were arrested for prostitution back in March.

, 1911 Ogden Avenue, and , 930 Ogden Avenue, were the subjects of an undercover investigation on March 31, 2011 involving both the and the DuPage Metropolitan Enforcement Group after DGPD received an anonymous letter tipping officials off to possible illegal activity at the locations.

“We've gotten tips before, letters, phone calls,” DGPD Deputy Chief Kurt Bluder said. “It just comes down to being able to set up an operation.”

The DGPD turned to DUMEG for help, Bluder said, because DUMEG has an expertise in conducting undercover operations.

“It takes a lot of safety and planning for these types of operations,” Bluder said. “It takes cooperation with [agencies] like DUMEG because [these operations] are not something you simply go and do. It takes a lot of resources.”

Ultimately, undercover officers went in to the businesses and certain statements, innuendos and comments were made by one employee at each location that gave officers enough to make an arrest, Bluder said. At Ace Spa, 58-year-old Jean Suk Foster of the 7200 block of West Happfield in Arlington Heights (at the time of arrest) was charged with one count of prostitution. At King's Spa, Sam C. Miller, 45-years-old of the 2200 block of Highland Avenue in Lombard (at the time of arrest) was charged with the same.

Though both Foster and Miller were only employees of the spas and were the only employees charged, prostitution at the spas was in direct violation of the license and village ordinances in the Downers Grove Municipal Code which made the businesses subject to revocation, according to Village of Downers Grove Communications Director Doug Kozlowski. The decision to pursue license revocation through an administrative hearing came from the village attorney, acting on information provided by DGPD.

A hearing officer—a third party contracted by the village but not a village employee—heard the case based on the issues relevant to compliance with the village's ordinance, and the decision was made to revoke the licenses. Ace Spa has been closed “for a while now,” according to Kozlowski, and King's Health Spa was closed today, November 16 after being served with an order revoking the license on November 15. Both businesses can appeal through the court system if they choose to.

The two businesses are independent of one another.

Downers Grove Patch writer Tony Cesare wrote a column about massage parlors on Ogden Avenue a year ago this month. To read that column, click here.