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Methuen shuts down 3 more spas after launching crackdown on human trafficking

By
Tammy Mutasa
Tammy Mutasa
Tammy Mutasa joined WBZ-TV as a multi-skilled journalist in January 2023.
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Tammy Mutasa

/ CBS Boston

Three more spas in Methuen, Massachusetts have been shut down a day after the city's mayor declared "a war on human trafficking." The city has now shut down five locations in less than a week. 

Mayor D.J. Beauregard announced Tuesday that the city issued cease-and-desist orders to Oriental Spa on Swan Street, Yellow Lilly Day Spa on Baldwin Street, and Lavender Spa on Baldwin Street. The mayor said the businesses are "suspected of operating as fronts for human trafficking." 

"It is freaking evil and that's why we need to address it, and we need to take It seriously," Mayor Beauregard said.  

The city said inspectors discovered unlicensed activity, evidence of habitation in commercial spaces and unsanitary conditions. No charges have been announced in connection with the three new closures, but police are continuing to investigate. 

"My job as the mayor of Methuen is to look out for my residents and to keep my city safe and to ensure that the people this community feel safe, that women feel protected," Beauregard said.

The city launched a crackdown after complaints from a neighbor led to an undercover investigation at Beauty Garden Spa on Wallace Street last week. Police said they found living quarters for two women in the building's basement. The manager of Beauty Garden Spa has been charged with prostitution, keeper of a house of ill fame, and trafficking a person for sexual servitude. 

Eastern Bodywork Therapy on Hampshire Street in Methuen was shut down on Monday for alleged human trafficking activities.

City targeting johns next 

"We are moving aggressively to identify and close these businesses, to crack down on the evildoers who profit from human suffering, and to hold landlords, traffickers, and johns accountable," Mayor Beauregard said in a press release. "The demand created by johns is what fuels this evil criminal industry, and as Police Chief Scott McNamara indicated previously, we are targeting you next with the full might of the law. Methuen has zero tolerance for human trafficking - period." 

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