Council shuts down spa

Tranquility Spa's business license application, filed in March, said operations there would be very limited -- heat therapy, facials, waxing, body wraps. There would only be two stations, the document stated, and absolutely "no massage or reflexology."

Almost immediately, though, Las Vegas city officials started hearing complaints that massages were being offered, albeit under the guise of "relaxation sessions."

A city investigation found that the business had massage tables in four rooms but no equipment that a cosmetology business would have. Later, a police sting operation netted a prostitution arrest after the attendant made "an offer of a sexual nature" to an undercover officer.

On Wednesday, despite pleas from Tranquility Spa's owners, Las Vegas City Council refused to renew the business' license. "A cosmetology shop is fine. But apparently that's not what's going on there," said Mayor Pro Tem Gary Reese. "As it is right now, I can't see this going on in my ward, and I won't."

Tranquility Spa's owners, meanwhile, have maintained that they never offered massages at the Paradise Road business, although they're relying on a narrow definition of what constitutes a massage.

It's another case of a business running afoul of laws governing massage businesses, and they're not infrequent, Las Vegas police Sgt. Darren Heiner said. "We have done some enforcement at different massage establishments on Paradise," Heiner said.

The cases don't always involve prostitution, he added. Sometimes a business opens as offering reflexology, which allows massages of hands, feet and ears, but then provides full-body massages as well.

"There is not necessarily evidence of prostitution, but there is evidence of full massage," he said. "Sometimes they go together, but not necessarily in every circumstance."

The city compiled an exhaustive report chronicling the spa's transgressions.

It started with a complaint from Sun City Spa, a neighboring business, that Tranquility was offering illegal massages. City officials investigated in May and found massage tables and several Asian female employees who were not licensed as massage therapists.

Tranquility Spa co-owner Jay Smith argued to city officials that it wasn't an issue, however, because the business wasn't offering massages. He described them as $80 "relaxation sessions" that included "soothing music," "pleasant company," "intriguing conversation" and "the most relaxing body rub ever experienced."

"Relaxation sessions are not performed by massage therapists," read a spa document that customers signed. "They have no training in massage. The relaxation session is entertainment and relaxation only."

City officials didn't buy it: "It appeared to be an attempt to offer a massage ... while denying that the service offered was a massage," wrote Jim DiFiore, the city's business services manager, in a report. Smith was warned to discontinue the massages and also issued a citation for allowing an employee to live in the building.

In July, police sent an undercover officer into the spa and arrested one employee for solicitation of prostitution, obscene touching of the genitals, obscene exposure of the genitals and performing massage without a license. The spa's other two owners, Jason Gatley and Connie Ferrero, were there at the time, according to the report, and Gatley tried to flee when police entered.

Both were ticketed for operating a massage establishment without a license.

City inspectors returned in August. During that visit Ferrero was present and claimed to be the only employee, but city inspectors found evidence -- including a Chinese religious statue -- indicating that Asian women still were being employed. The report also cited advertisements touting the spa as a massage destination.