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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis is cracking down on illegal massage parlors. On Monday, the city’s Department of Code Enforcement coordinated its first multi-agency licensing sweep of 13 massage parlor identified as high-risk businesses based on licensing, advertising and police reports.
The Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department, the Indianapolis Fire Department, the State Fire Marshal, the Marion County Health Department, the office of City Prosecutor and the Marion County Prosecutor’s office all assisted in the investigation, according to a release from the Department of Code Enforcement.
The 13 massage parlors were targeted because six were sites of prostitution arrests last week, nine were not properly licensed and five had illegal living quarters for employees on the premises. As a group, the parlors had 73 licensing, zoning, health and fire-code violations.
Code Enforcement is attempting to curb prostitution and human trafficking. Based on the multi-agency sweep and the code violations it uncovered, the department will now build legal cases against illegal massage parlor owners, pressuring them to comply with the law or shut down.
The enforcement cases will be submitted to the city prosecutor’s office for expedited review and court filing. IMPD will file prostitution charges against six of the massage parlor locations with the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office. Code Enforcement also plans to forward any evidence of tax non-payment to the Indiana Department of Revenue.
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