BEAUMONT, Texas — A Beaumont massage parlor was shut down Thursday after a woman was arrested on a prostitution charge.
The arrest was made as part of an operation targeting massage parlors across the city by the narcotics and vice division of the Beaumont Police Department, according to a probable cause affidavit in the case.
The arrest happened at BL Massage, at 3677 Calder Ave, just before 4 p.m. on Wednesday, November 7, 2024, according to the affidavit.
While a 43-year-old Beaumont woman was performing a massage she offered to perform two different sexual acts on a man for an extra $60 and $100, according to the affidavit.
The person declined her offer and left the massage parlor.
When uniformed detectives then tried to enter the parlor, the woman locked the front door, but when she went out the back door, officers detained her.
The 43-year-old woman was arrested on a class B misdemeanor charge of prostitution and was taken to the Jefferson County Correctional Facility where she is currently being held on a $500 bond, according to jail records.
Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation records show that the parlor is licensed as a "massage therapy establishment" through February 2026.
12News could not find any record of the woman being licensed in Texas as a massage therapist.
On the probable cause affidavit her address was listed as the same address of the massage parlor.
Unlicensed massage therapists and workers living at the business are two red flags for possible human trafficking at an illicit massage business, according to the Texas Attorney General's Office.
Following the woman's arrest, the City of Beaumont revoked the massage parlor's certificate of occupancy due to the arrest and "... an illegal occupancy of the building," according to Demi Engman, director of planning and community development with the city.
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.
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