East Dundee massage parlor halted in wake of prostitution arrest

Plans for a massage parlor in East Dundee have been put on hold after the Illinois State Police continue investigating charges against the would-be owners for running a house of prostitution in facilities in Hampshire and Crystal Lake, officials said.

East Dundee Village Administrator Frank Koehler said the landlords for the proposed massage parlor on Rock Road have told the village they will not be honoring the lease they initially intended to sign with East West Healing Touch after the owners were placed under investigation for prostitution at parlors in Crystal Lake and Hampshire.

Village officials said Jennie Gardner, 40, of Marengo, along with Yanfang Pan, 40, and Zhagwei Li, 50, both of Sycamore, the owners of East West Healing Touch, had just signed a lease with an intention to open their third parlor in East Dundee.

However, Koehler said village officials have spoken with the landlord, who indicated the lease would not be honored.

"I believe it's because of the newspaper exposure to the incident, but I'm not entirely sure," he said.

Koehler said that even had the landlord agreed to continue with the lease, there was a question of whether the massage parlor would be allowed to open on Rock Road because massage therapists are not zoned to work in that area.

"There was a zoning question that would have forced them to get a special use permit," he said. "We do allow for massage therapists to open, but only if they obtain a special use permit in an area that has been zoned for it."

Some village trustees said they welcomed the decision to put the parlor on hold.

"Certainly people have their First Amendment right to run certain types of business," Trustee Lael Miller said. "But it is not something I would want to see in the village."

The situation started when two women who work at the Crystal Lake and Hampshire parlors were charged with prostitution by police Thursday after an undercover operation revealed they were offering their clients sexual acts.

Police also arrested Mengyi Guan, 46, of Hampshire, and Lan Rui He, 31, of Crystal Lake for misdemeanor prostitution and have been released after posting $100 bond.

Police said the owners of the massage parlors denied knowledge of sexual acts taking place when they were interviewed by police following the arrests. The owners had not been charged as of 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, state police officials said.

Staff Writer Larissa Chinwah contributed to this report.