Illicit Georgia spa reviews raise red flags
Anti-trafficking advocate also cites ads for services
The suspect in the fatal shootings at three Georgia spas has told authorities he blamed the massage businesses for providing an outlet for his sex addiction.
Robert Aaron Long viewed the spas as “a temptation that he wanted to eliminate,” according to a Cherokee County Sheriff ’s Office spokesman.
Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said the spas were not on police’s radar: “As far as we know in Atlanta, these are legally operating businesses.”
Yet early signs indicate the businesses may not have been entirely aboveboard, leaving the women working there particularly vulnerable to abuse and violence.
All three spas are listed on Rubmaps, an erotic review site that allows users to search for and review illicit massage parlors. The site is the most popular of its kind, where buyers who call themselves “hobbyists” or “mongers” looking for sex go to find and share information, according to a study by Polaris, a nonprofit group that operates the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
Aromatherapy Spa and Gold Spa, both in Atlanta, have about 100 reviews, many of them recent. A review for Gold Spa on March 9 indicated that it was “full service,” as did a similar review from five days before. A review for Aromatherapy Spa on March 2 also indicated sex was on the service list. Young’s Asian Massage in Acworth, Georgia, has 39 reviews on Rubmaps, the latest posted in February.
One of the eight victims, Xiaojie Tan, was listed as the owner of a limited liability corporation associated with Young’s Asian Massage. The LLC also owns Wang’s Feet & Body Massage, a spa in neighboring Kennesaw also listed on Rubmaps.
The Rubmap reviews, coupled with advertising for 24-hour services, are red flags, said Elizabeth Kim of Restore NYC, a nonprofit that works to provide housing and economic solutions for survivors of trafficking.
“In New York, for instance, a lot of the illicit massage businesses are open super-late, or you can’t just enter like a normal business – you have to be buzzed in,” Kim said. “They’re screening for whether it’s a customer or law enforcement or something like that.”
Gold Spa and Aromatherapy Spa are among several neighborhood businesses frequented during late nights, according to neighboring business owners. Gold Spa has a blacked-out glass door that prevents visibility from the outside. The windows are concealed by shutters that appear rusted. At least one set of window covers appear to be held together with duct tape. The only thing visible inside is an ATM near the front entrance. The establishment has an LED sign out front that says the business is open 24/7.
Two buildings to the right of Aromatherapy Spa is Craig Barnes’ G Salon, a day spa that opened in this Piedmont Heights neighborhood in 1999. Its services include traditional salon offerings such as haircuts, hair coloring and perms, as well as waxing, microdermabrasion, eyelash extensions and aromatherapy massage.
“Twenty-one years, no issues,” Barnes said. “I’ve never met anyone, never seen anyone there (at the site of Tuesday’s shooting) in 21 years. They’re quiet. They don’t do business at the same time I do.”
Though it is still too early to know for certain that the spas were illicit, Kim said illicit parlors are inherently violent.
“Over the last 12 years we’ve served over 1,000 Asian women who have worked in or been exploited in illicit massage business,” Kim said.
Catherine Chen, chief executive officer of Polaris, says it’s important to recognize the dignity of the women, who may or may not have known the full extent of the businesses where they worked.
“They’re mothers and wives and sisters and aunties,” Chen said. “They’re real full people, and their families may or may not have known they were in this situation. To recognize their dignity even though this is a tragedy that they ended up in.”