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Number of Methuen businesses closed amid human trafficking investigation now up to 5
The city’s mayor suggested a crackdown on landlords and alleged sex buyers could be next.
Methuen officials have shut down three more spas accused of operating as fronts for human trafficking, bringing the total number of shuttered establishments to five in the city’s latest crackdown.
The city’s Department of Health, Human Services, and Inspections on Tuesday issued cease-and-desist orders to Oriental Spa, located at 119 Swan St., and Yellow Lilly Day Spa and Lavender Spa, both on Baldwin Street.
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All three were ordered closed after inspectors discovered “unlicensed activity, evidence of unlawful habitation within the commercial spaces, and multiple code violations including unpermitted construction, blocked egress, and unsanitary conditions,” Methuen officials said in a news release. The three spas have also been referred to the Methuen Police Department for criminal investigation, the city said.
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The closures come days after Methuen shut down two other spas, Beauty Garden Spa on Wallace Street and Eastern Bodywork Therapy on Hampshire Street. The manager of Beauty Garden Spa, 38-year-old Suping Zhu, was also arrested on trafficking and prostitution charges.
“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 D.J. Beauregard said in a statement. “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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According to the news release, Beauregard has ordered a citywide assessment of suspected trafficking hotspots. That probe remains ongoing, as does the investigation into the five shuttered spas.
“The progress of the past week should send an unmistakable signal,” Beauregard said. “If you are operating, enabling, or fueling human trafficking in the City of Methuen — whether as a trafficker, a landlord, or a john — we will find you, and we will shut you down.”
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