Las Vegas massage ordinance seeks to reduce human trafficking
Using a massage parlor or reflexology clinic as a front for illegal prostitution is getting tougher in Las Vegas under new city ordinances.
On Wednesday, the City Council unanimously approved two ordinances that put new requirements on the businesses that include health inspections, the posting of licenses and the requirement that doors to rooms where massages are taking place be unlocked.
Mayor Pro Tem Stavros Anthony, who sponsored the measures, said the requirements won't affect legitimate businesses but will make it difficult for illegal prostitution ringleaders to force women into performing sex acts for money.
"Human trafficking is a major problem in this country. There are women being kidnapped in other countries ... and put into prostitution as slaves," Anthony said.
Although Anthony said Las Vegas is "leading the charge" against human trafficking in Southern Nevada, other jurisdictions are crafting similar rules.
On Tuesday, the Henderson City Council approved an ordinance making it more difficult for massage parlor owners to avoid responsibility for employees engaging in prostitution.
The Las Vegas massage ordinance is aimed at taking the fight against illegal prostitution and human trafficking beyond individual lawbreakers by cracking down on business entities they use as fronts.
The ordinance requires massage business operators to post therapists' licenses and rates and limits operation to 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
"Obviously these women who have been kidnapped aren't going to have a license," Anthony said.
It also requires health inspections as a condition of doing business in the city, requires doors to rooms where massages are taking place to be unlocked, prohibits video and audio recordings in massage areas, prohibits mirrored or tinted glass in massage areas, and requires a manager to be on the premises at all times.
The council approved a second, similar ordinance that covers reflexology clinics.
Anthony, a retired Metropolitan Police Department captain who was once in charge of the vice and narcotics division, said he proposed the idea after becoming frustrated with the ease with which illegal prostitution and human trafficking are hidden with phony massage businesses.
"These are fronts for prostitution, they are fronts for human trafficking, and there are 30 pages of them in the phone book," Anthony said. "Investigators from the health department are now going to be able to go into these establishments and check the health and safety of these places."
According to city officials, there are 46 independent massage establishments in Las Vegas and 34 "ancillary" establishments, small facilities that work with a clinic, chiropractor or beauty salon.
Bamboo Bridges, a nonprofit group that works on issues important to the Asian Pacific community, helped Anthony develop the ordinance.
Representatives from Bamboo Bridge, who attended the meeting but didn't speak, have said previously that Asian Pacific women often are targets of trafficking and prostitution rings that force people from their homes and to distant countries, where they are pushed into performing sex acts for money.
Contact reporter Benjamin Spillman at bspillman@ reviewjournal.com or 702-229-6435.
