A license suspension over suspected prostitution and human trafficking at several North Augusta massage parlors, set to take effect Sept. 18, has been placed on hold for now.
However, authorities say that the investigation into possible prostitution, human trafficking and sex trafficking will continue.
“There was a search warrant issued and executed, but it is not timely to move forward, so the suspension has been withdrawn,” Kelly Zier, attorney for the city of North Augusta, said.
On Aug.15, the warrant was secured after several undercover agents, acting on a tip from an unnamed member of the public, were sent to Lili’s Therapeutic Massage, located at 129 Market Plaza Drive, T Aroma Massage, located at 401 West Martintown Road, Georgia Avenue Massage, located at 507B Georgia Ave., Healing Path Massage, located at 113 E. Marion Ave., and Lotus Massage, located at 1069 Edgefield Road.
The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division joined the undercover investigation.
According to records filed with the court, all but one of the undercover officers reported no illegal behavior. The officer who did report illegal behavior stated that he/she visited the T Aroma Massage and was taken to a private room by “an Asian woman who spoke broken English,” where the masseuse instructed the officer to disrobe and “briefly touched the UC’s groin area over the top of his/her pants.”
The report states the undercover cop then asked how much it would cost for a “handjob.” The masseuse then motioned for the cop to lower their voice and said, “Sixty.”
The undercover cop then tried to haggle over the price with the woman that spoke broken English, according to the report filed.
“The UC then asked the woman if she provided sex, and she said no, ‘Only hand service,’” the report states.
The officer then agreed to a “four hands” massage with a “happy ending” for $200 and then left the building claiming they had to go and get more money.
There is no indication in the court filing that the undercover officer was wearing a wire or hidden body camera, and there is no record of an arrest being made.
It is unclear how many search warrants were issued, but the one issued for T Aroma Massage was extremely broad in scope and appeared to be crafted from a template as “county of Charleston” was scratched out and “Aiken” was substituted by hand.
The warrants gave the authority to search not only the buildings, but the personal vehicles of employees.
According to a receipt from the search at T Aroma Massage, officers seized two cell phones, two computer modems, camera equipment, a credit card machine, $1,172 in cash, notebooks, “misc. Paperwork,” and conducted nine DNA swabs.
Contact was made with employees at both T Aroma Massage and Lili’s Massage; however, the language barrier was too great for any information to be gleaned as to whether law enforcement had returned the seized items. The front desk employee at T Aroma kept repeating “Massage $80, no English, massage $80,” and the front desk employee at Lili’s Massage apologized, “Sorry, my English no good.”
The public information officer for North Augusta Public Safety, Lt. Clay Swan, did not return a call for comment.
Scott Hudson is the Senior Investigative Reporter and Editorial Page Editor for The Augusta Press. Reach him at scott@theaugustapress.com
