Councilman: We need to stop forced prostitution
HAMILTON >> Hamilton Council on Tuesday night unanimously passed an ordinance to regulate any massage establishment operating in this 40-squaremile township after Mercer County Acting Prosecutor Angelo Onofri recommended it.
Onofri at the council meeting told Hamilton Council that “illegitimate” massage parlor operators have been running “dens of prostitution” in the township and that an ordinance to crack down against indecent activities “would give the township a powerful tool to regulate these businesses.”
“This is modern-day slavery,” Councilman Ed Gore said after listening to Onofri’s synopsis. “We have slavery here in Mercer County, and God bless you people for trying to take steps to eradicate it.”
After police raided two Hamilton-based massage parlors and arrested two women on prostitution engagement charges in March, Mayor Kelly Yaede said Hamilton Township would not tolerate indecent activities and promised her administration would draft an ordinance regulating local rubdown establishments.
Hamilton Council on June 21 unanimously declined to introduce an ordinance to regulate massage parlors, citing “overregulation” stemming from the fact that massage therapists and owners of massage establishments are already regulated by the state through the New Jersey Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy.
Hamilton Council revisited the topic this month by introducing an ordinance Oct. 4 calling for every massage establishment in the township to apply for a $200 massage therapy license at the municipal clerk’s office. The council passed that ordinance 5-0 Tuesday.
Councilman Dave Kenny suggested council declined to introduce the ordinance earlier in the year because “our initial concern was we really didn’t know what the real intent was” behind the ordinance.
The Yaede administration originally wanted the municipal massage license to be $400, but Onofri and Hamilton Health Director Jeff Plunkett said a $200 license fee is reasonable and sufficient to empower the township to crack down against any illegitimate massage establishment operating in Hamilton.
The ordinance gives Hamilton’s Division of Health great power to inspect massage establishments and shut down any parlor that is deemed to be in violation of the ordinance. The ordinance prohibits prostitution and other indecent acts. It also requires massage establishments to be clean and limits the hours of operation for those businesses.
Any person in violation of the ordinance could get their municipal massage license suspended or revoked and get fined a minimum of $500 or a maximum of $2,000 as determined by a municipal judge.
Other towns have adopted similar ordinances, including Lawrence Township. Onofri said the ordinance has been successful at identifying illegitimate massage parlors in Lawrence and deterring those businesses from attempting to do business in that township.
Yaede in a statement on Tuesday said her administration since March “has worked with key partners to protect our residents from illicit massage parlors. Without further delay, our municipal officials will have enforcement capabilities which shall send a message to those looking to open these businesses they will not be welcome or tolerated in Hamilton Township.”