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Authorities shutter five more Brooklyn spas

Bay Ridge Avenue spa is a house of ill repute, residents say
Community Newspaper Group / Will Bredderman

They rubbed people the wrong way — and now they’re getting patted down!

Cops shut down five Brooklyn spas and slapped the cuffs on six owners for allegedly practicing the darker arts of massage.

The sting closed allegedly dirty body-therapy joints in Brooklyn Heights, Greenpoint, Bay Ridge, and Bensonhurst on charges ranging from prostitution to rubbing people down without a license.

Authorities vowed they would not rest until Brooklyn has shaken off the plague of below-the-belt therapy.

“I hope that these arrests will send a message not only to the communities of Dyker Heights, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn Heights and Greenpoint, but throughout Brooklyn, that my office shares their concerns regarding these so-called ‘massage parlors’ and we will not tolerate illicit operations that exploit women and adversely affect neighborhoods,” said District Attorney Charles Hynes.

Among the raided parlors was the Bright Ocean Spa on 69th Street, between Narrows Avenue and Shore Road, where neighbors had long complained about its late hours, clouded windows, and all-male clientele. This paper also reported that the spa was posting sexually provocative ads on sites like Backpage.com and Rubmaps, which are notorious for promoting prostitution.

The operation was the second this year to target illicit massage parlors. A series of raids in July closed 12 spas, most of them in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights, where many residents had complained of a sudden outbreak of seedy therapy facilities.

Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him attwitter.com/WillBredderman.
Hands on: District Attorney Joe Hynes vowed to continue his war on rub-and-tug joints.
Photo by Elizabeth Graham