SALT LAKE CITY (KUTV) — Hundreds of “illegal” massage parlors in Utah are suspected of engaging in organized crime, including prostitution, human trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion, according to testimony at a Utah legislative hearing this week.

Mick Spilker, an investigator with the Utah Attorney General’s Office, said a subscription website identifies salons where “Johns” can post reviews about sex encounters — and the site lists 363 salons in the state.

“363 salons, we only have 29 counties. Holy crap,” said Rep. Ryan Wilcox, chairman of the Legislature’s Organized Crime Subcommittee. “This is not a minor thing that happens. This is right under your nose.”

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Spilker said 199 of the salons are “active,” including more than 40 in Salt Lake City alone.

“The workers are not technically listed as employees with the owners,” Spilker said. “They have no real records of who works for them. They are called contract workers or they just use the space in the salons to do their business”.

He said that in one investigation, 23 people looking for sex showed up at a salon in one day.

According to Spilker, the Johns often pay cash, use cash apps or even cryptocurrencies.

“This problem has gotten worse and worse this year,” Wilcox said. “It seems to be growing exponentially. We had five cases earlier this summer in my county that we were aware of, and in the last week and a half, we’ve had three more.”

Many of the massage workers are from Asia — and according to the Utah Division of Professional Licensing, or DOPL, Salt Lake County has more illegal massage businesses than Philadelphia or Denver counties.

Now state regulators are proposing to create a “massage establishment registry” to crack down on illicit businesses.

Employers/employers should submit fingerprints and consent to background checks.

In addition, DOPL proposes revoking business registrations and issuing “tough fines” for criminal behavior. It says 20 states already have similar licensing guidelines.

At this point, even investigators’ raids on businesses aren’t putting some salons out of business.

“After we executed our search warrants and thought we would have closed (a salon), they’re open next week,” Spilker said, “because all they do is turn it over to someone else, and they I go back and get a new business license and start over immediately.”

Other statistics estimate fewer illegal massage businesses in the state, with “150 storefronts identified,” according to a DOPL report to lawmakers. He cited data from a group called The Network, which dives into human trafficking research.

Jennifer Brunt, registered nurse and massage therapist, said it’s very important for the industry to be perceived as clean.

For 22 years, Brunt practiced healing massage and wrote programs to teach it in Utah.

She has also had clients show up for appointments with expectations beyond massage.

“As a legitimate massage therapist, that’s probably one of my most annoying things,” she said, “that someone would come in either expecting or wanting something more than the massage I’ve provided. I should finish the massage”.

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