OTTAWA – A proposed massage parlor downtown drew some attention at the First Friday meeting last week. When the landlord learned what was planned for the building, the lease was withdrawn recently and the business operators were kicked out before the parlor was opened. Ottawa Police Chief Dennis Butler discussed the situation at last week’s meeting. There was some evidence that the business might have become a front for prostitution and that the Korean women involved could have been victims of trafficking, Butler said. When the proposal became public knowledge, his department was in the opening stages of an investigation and approached other departments to send undercover officers into the business, he said. That the business never got off the ground was good for Ottawa, but investigators never learned if the women were being held against their will nor what happened to them, he said.
Wednesday, Sept. 7, 3 p.m.
