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Police: Women peddled sex at spa
Kiwi Spa, where police arrested two women, is the second local spa shut down this summer under such accusations.
By JACOB H. FRIES
Published August 17, 2005
LARGO - For the second time in recent weeks, undercover detectives have shut down a massage parlor where they say women peddled sex.
On Monday, Largo police arrested two women at Kiwi Spa at 7850 Ulmerton Road. One of them, identified as Pritcherd Insunshim, 47, faces charges of solicitation of prostitution and massage without a license.
The other, Un Cha Garcia, 50, was charged with resisting arrest without violence. Both women posted bail and were released from county jail early Tuesday.
Detectives turned their attention to Kiwi Spa after receiving tips that the business served only men and stayed open past midnight.
They also found that a woman who worked at the Four Seasons Spa at 6585 126th Ave., which police shuttered in late July for prostitution, also worked part-time at Kiwi.
Sgt. Howard Crosby said the department was teaming up with other cities as well as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
"Everybody is starting to get these problems ... It's not just a Largo thing," Crosby said.
Kiwi operated in a similar fashion as the Four Seasons, Crosby said. As men entered, they paid $60 to $80 and were taken to a private room where the women began to massage them. Then conversation turn to sex. The price for that service: $140.
Detectives are trying to better understand where the women are coming from and how they end up in Largo. Those arrested have not cooperated much, Crosby said.
"It's hard to get to the bottom of this," he said.
On July 26, Largo police busted the Four Seasons Spa, using an informer wired with a microphone as officers listened remotely. Two women were taken into custody then.
Detectives began to investigate the business in April after receiving tips, authorities have said. A patrol officer had also entered the business on an unrelated call and found it unusual.
The spa was decorated more like an apartment than a massage parlor, with private, furnished rooms and individual showers.
Jacob H. Fries can be reached at 445-4156 or jfries@sptimes.com
[Last modified August 17, 2005, 01:18:40]
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