07-02-2025
BCSO and FDOH utilize House Bill 197 to crack down on several local massage parlors
BAY COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Seven people were picked up yesterday for failing to comply with a relatively new state law known as the 'Massage Parlor Act.' Sheriff's deputies worked with the Florida Department of Health to enforce the law and look for evidence of human trafficking.
Bay County Sheriff's Office investigators collaborated with the Florida Department of Health investigators to target massage establishments, advertised on websites commonly connected to prostitution and human trafficking.
While officials say they found no evidence of prostitution at any of the 8 establishments they investigated, they did identify other violations.
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'Out of the seven arrests we made yesterday, none of them were prostitution-related. They were all related to those specific charges of one of the three charges of either not having customer information correctly, not having employee documentation or information or allowing the the establishment to be used as a domicile for sleeping or napping,' Criminal Investigator Ryan Nelson said.
One of these businesses is 'Popular Massage' on Thomas Drive. The owner, 62-year-old Zhongqin Jin, was charged with 2 counts of failure to maintain records required of a massage parlor along with the use of a massage parlor as a principal domicile.
In July of 2024, new laws took effect concerning the records that massage parlors must keep. The Florida massage parlor act regulates establishments to combat human trafficking and illicit activities.
'This house bill is another tool on our belt that gives us another avenue, another way to keep people safe and prevent human trafficking by enforcing these laws at these massage establishments,' Nelson said.
Nelson explained why not having updated customer records is considered a criminal violation.
'We want to identify the frequent people that are coming in and out of these business businesses and utilizing their services, especially if it's illicit services as well,' Nelson said.
Nelson says it's problematic if they can't track the customers using these potentially illicit services.
'Without people that are trying to receive services from victims of human trafficking, whether it be, you know, sexually based services you know, we wouldn't have as much human trafficking without people that are trying to receive those services, for lack of better words,' Nelson added.
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At one establishment, records showed customers using aliases such as 'Joe Dirt.'
'We want to have employee information so we can keep track of who's working there. If these, you know, suspects or bad guys are trying to employ victims of human trafficking, they're most of the time not going to have accurate information in their system or logged for all these employees that are doing these services,' Nelson continued.
Nelson also says in the establishments where employees were allegedly living, there's a possible human trafficking aspect to investigate. We stopped by 4 of the 7 businesses, and only 2 of those appeared to be open, including some that had been identified as being used for sleeping quarters.
The Florida Department of Health is responsible for taking administrative action. Sheriff's officials made a point of saying all 7-people were here legally.
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