Local spa closed after investigation
By: Joseph Harvie
The Pine Day Spa in the Liberty Shopping Center on Route 522 remains closed after two women were charged with running a brothel out of the Dayton establishment.
Dong Suk Jeong, 46, of Clifton, and Hai Sook Choi, 41, of Fort Lee, were charged Sept. 7 with maintaining a sex-oriented business nuisance, promoting prostitution and engaging in prostitution, after a weeklong investigation revealed the women were offering sex acts to customers, police said.
Police became aware of the business after reading an advertisement in the adult personal ad section of a newspaper, South Brunswick police spokesman Sgt. James Stoddard said.
"We were concerned because a notation in the advertisement included ‘table showers,’ which is not generally consistent with health spa practices," Sgt. Stoddard said. "The other concern was that it was within our jurisdiction. There could have been 20 to 30 other ads in the same column, but this one specifically indicated that it was within South Brunswick so we felt it was necessary to investigate."
According to several Web sites, a table shower is when a person, usually naked, lies down and gets rinsed off before receiving a massage. Police said that most legitimate businesses do not offer this service.
Police used undercover officers as part of its investigation. Sgt. Stoddard said that the officers visited the business and were suspicious of the use of a closed-circuit security camera system, as well as the use of electronic locks on doors in the office. He said that the officers were also solicited for sex while at the spa.
Police said the owners of brothels use the cameras to see how many customers enter the establishment during the day, and compare that to the amount of money prostitutes leave at night.
Police obtained a search warrant and raided the brothel charging the two women, who were released after being issued summonses, police said.
The business was shut down, police said, and $1,050, along with property such as a washing machine, clothes drier, computer, credit card processing machine and a television/DVD video player, was seized.