by Corey Munson · December 26th, 2012
Share on facebookShare on twitterShare on google_plusone
More Sharing Services0
The Marion City Council, at its regular meeting Thursday, Dec. 20, voted to uphold the revocation of license for two massage parlors in Marion after both were raided in a prostitution sting in October.
Massage Heaven, located on 10th Street between 7th and 8th avenues, and Asian Massage on 7th Avenue were both raided Oct. 19, after a confidential informant received sexual services at the two establishments. The informant's activities were tape recorded by the Marion Police Department. After he completed the transaction he returned to the Police Department, was questioned and then went back to the massage businesses to identify the women who had offered him the services.
In both cases two women were present at the businesses at the time the informant was there. Marion PD arrested the masseuse for prostitution and charged the other woman with maintaining a disorderly house/business.
In Marion massage parlors must carry an amusement license to operate. This can be revoked for several reasons, but in this case the revocation came under a provision which says if a person is charged with a crime on the business premises, and subsequently convicted, that business can lose its license.
Representatives of both business owners spoke at the hearing, though neither of the owners actually addressed the council. In both cases language barriers and nervousness were cited as the reason neither owner spoke.
The hearing was conducted much as a court case would with lawyers representing the city and one of the businesses and both sides calling witnesses who were sworn in to testify.
Massage Heaven was the first business discussed. Its owner, Guibin Li, did not appear but sent his lawyer Ray Scheetz and his girlfriend Lijuan Li in his place.
Scheetz argued that Mr. Li should be allowed to keep his license and remain open because he was unaware of the activity going on at his business and fired the two women who were charged upon hearing about the incident. Mr. Li works and lives more than half the month in the Kansas City area and, according to Scheetz, is rarely present at Massage Heaven.
Scheetz also argued that the city code was flawed, having in one section a requirement that the business owner be aware and permissive of the illegal activity while the section cited by the city in its argument says that the activity simply must occur at the business. Scheetz argued that revoking Mr. Li's license under these rules would be like shutting down a bar because someone got into a fight there or shutting down Hy-Vee because a drunk driver was pulled over in the parking lot.
Ms. Li, Mr. Li's girlfriend, spoke with knowledge of the incident and Mr. Li's reaction in his place because she said he was too nervous to attend the meeting. She spoke through an interpreter at the hearing.
She said part of the problem was that the women who were hired were Chinese and may not have fully understood the laws against this sort of activity.
Ms. Li said going forward Mr. Li was committed to doing a better job training his staff and would spend more time in Marion managing the business, if this license was reinstated.
It was not.
Second before the council was Richard and Jennifer Dougherty. Asian Massage owner Jennifer, who is also of Asian decent and not a native English speaker, asked her husband Richard to testify in her place due to the language barrier.
Richard said when questioned that the woman who was present at Asian Massage at the time of the incident was a friend of his wife who had come over to learn from her. He did not believe the police report that said his wife had performed a sex act on the informant and pointed out that she has yet to be charged with a crime by the Linn County attorney.
The city argued that the county had already received guilty pleas from both women charged with disorderly house which was enough to have their license revoked under city ordinance. Furthermore during cross examination Ms. Li testified that Mr. Li moved to Marion from Chicago in 2011, though he listed a Chicago address on his application for license in 2012, which amounts to providing false information, another ground for revocation.
After more than two hours of arguments on both sides, the council recessed to executive session to debate the matter. They returned just before 10:30 p.m. and voted to leave both licenses revoked
http://www.mariontoday.org/times/article.php?id=3243
참고로 마리온 시티 주민구성 : 주민들 중 97.06%가 백인, 0.47%가 흑인 또는 아프리카계 흑인, 0.59%가 아메리칸 원주민, 0.19%가 아시아인, 0.01%가 태평양 원주민들로 구성되어 있다.
http://terms.naver.com/entry.nhn?cid=200000000&docId=1350889&mobile&categoryId=200001297
- 중국녀 미국 마리온시티에서 매춘 하다 대량 적발 -
---------------------------------------------------
이곳은 전체 아시아인 인구가 0.19%라는데 그중 일부를 차지하는 중국여자들이 전체 매춘 장악
