Cranston Denies Body Works License for Park Ave. Business

CRANSTON, RI—A business that advertises on websites used by prostitutes and sex traffickers was denied a body works establishment license by a City Council subcommittee on Monday.

The owner, Gina Ruggieri, is the same woman who was found to be running a brothel in East Greenwich that was shut down after a raid that led to prostitution charges for several employees.

Ruggieri also was recently denied a body works license in Pawtucket and saw another of her establishments, Simple Serenity, shut down by officials in that city in November for operating a massage therapy business without a license.

Repose, Inc., which has for nearly a year been offering spray tanning, body rubs and other services out of a Park Avenue building in Cranston, is located directly across the street from a pre-school and kindergarten.

With the City Council’s Safety Services & Licenses Committee vote Monday night, the business has now been explicitly denied permission to offer body rubs, scrubs and other services that typically are used as a cover for paid-for sex, though its Facebook page shows that it has been offering the services as early as May of 2015.

The business can still offer spray tanning and sell retail items at its 694 Park Ave. location.

Several council members were surprised that Ruggieri would attempt to run a body works business in Cranston, which has an ordinance regarding massages and body rub establishments that prohibits sex spas. The Cranston ordinance was passed before Pawtucket enacted a similar measure last year.

The author of that ordinance, City Councilman Don Botts, said that though the business technically can stay open, “I am guessing they will be monitored closely.”

Along with the application for a body works establishment license, Ruggeri listed seven employees, including several whose names have appeared on advertisements on sites like Backpage.com, which has frequently been connected to cases of child sex trafficking.

Ruggieri continues to advertise on Backpage.com. On Jan. 30, an ad was posted under the name ”Sunless Tanning & Wellness” promoting spray tanning, wellness baskets and gifts, Swedish bodywork, reflexology and hot stone meditation. The phone number is the same number on Repose Inc.’s Facebook page.