There may not be a happy ending for the owner of two Centretown massage parlours.
Yu Hua Li, owner of the Asia Spas at 386 Bank St. and 176 Gloucester St., has been charged with seven offences related to keeping a common bawdy-house, living off the profits of prostitution and breaching a previous recognisance, says the city’s lawyer, Stuart Huxley.
City officials say Li will likely lose her business licenses because of these criminal charges.
“As a result of the police charging the business licensee with criminal charges . . . it’s our opinion that it’s not appropriate that she continues to carry on business,” says Linda Anderson, city manager of enforcement and inspections.
The city’s license committee will decide on Feb. 6 whether to suspend Li’s license.
Ottawa police say they laid charges after a three-month investigation in conjunction with the Gatineau Police and the Canadian Border Services Agency.
On Nov. 25, they arrested eight people, including Li, and seized $17,000.
The manager of the hair salon next door to the Asia Spa on Bank Street, Patricia Brown, says it has been about two months since she has seen anyone in the massage parlour.
The doors are locked, the lights are off and no one appears to be home. But that wasn’t always the case.
Chris King, who lives around the corner from the spa, says he used to notice its strange business hours and he says he isn’t surprised to learn of the charges.
“It doesn’t entirely shock me because I was kind of aware that something was different about the massage parlour,” King says. “You would walk past it from 11 p.m. until two in the morning and see all the lights on and doors open.”
Li opened the spa in October 2006 after getting a body rub parlour license from the city, Anderson says.
Before granting her the license the city did an inspection of the property, she says.
“We would have done an inspection for property standards issues, just to make sure it’s clean and maintained and that she’s complying with the business licensing,” she adds.
Li’s hearing was originally scheduled for Jan. 19, but for unknown reasons she didn’t show so it was adjourned.
Li couldn’t be reached for comment.