Orland Cracks Down On Prostitution With New Massage Parlor Laws

ORLAND PARK, IL — The Village of Orland Park is fighting prostitution by tightening some laws that regulate massage parlors.

All businesses that offer massage services must now also offer at least one other health and beauty therapy or service, including manicures, acupuncture or braiding. Massage therapists will be required to wear clean, "nontransparent" clothes "covering the sexual and genital areas" that are worn only at workplace. Separate, dressing rooms and lockers must be provided for employees. Services and prices also will now be required to be on display prominently at the location.

The new codes also set a higher bar for cleanliness.

The village board amended its codes for massage parlors this week after a spate of prostitution crack-downs during the past several years. In the most recent, the village shut down a spa in March after a woman was arrested for soliciting sex acts from an undercover cop.

"The police got complaints that something more was going on there than massages, and the police department found out that, yes, something more than massages was going on there, and appropriate action has been taken," said Tom Dubelbeis, interim village manager. "We have added some language, and for the operation of the massage parlor, we now make sure they provide more than one service to cut down on illegal acts in the massage parlor."

Orland, like nearby villages, already prohibits sexual activity on the grounds of businesses that offer massage services. Many of those villages, including Tinley, already have those operating restrictions in place.

Orland has shut down several spas that claimed to offer massages, but that also employed women who solicited sex acts, including one at HM in 2014, at ZY Massage and Seven Day Spa in 2015.