Police arrested nearly 400 women working at illicit Long Island massage spas. They let male customers go free.

Bill said he began buying sex at illicit Long Island massage spas several years ago.

"My wife and I got our feet done at this one spa in town, and it was like — she hated it, I loved it," said the Suffolk resident and married father of two grown children, who asked that his middle name be used to protect his privacy. "I kept going ... and then it graduated to something else."

Bill said he did not fear being arrested. He is one of thousands of Long Island men who frequent illicit massage businesses.

Despite years of aggressive raids, a Newsday investigation found Nassau and Suffolk police have only arrested the women accused of selling sex while leaving the men who buy it free from prosecution, even when they are identified during raids.

Since 2021, the departments have arrested nearly 400 spa workers but no customers at illicit massage businesses, according to state arrest records, court files and police reports reviewed by Newsday. Anti-trafficking experts, prosecutors and researchers say the approach ignores the demand that fuels an underground industry worth hundreds of millions of dollars across New York.

"They’re almost going out of their way to ignore the men," said Michael Shively, a former Northeastern University professor who has extensively researched sex buying. "It’s close to impossible to solve a problem by ignoring its cause."

Advocates say the practice is unfair and targets only women for a crime that takes two.

"It’s unjust," said Jimmy Lee, president of The Network, an anti-trafficking nonprofit based in Virginia. "We’re not addressing the demand side."

It’s unjust. We’re not addressing the demand side.

—Jimmy Lee, president of The Network, an anti-trafficking nonprofit

Cynthia Pizzulli, a sex therapist in Melville who said she has dozens of clients who frequent illicit spas, called massage spas modern-day brothels.

"If you’re going to arrest the women, arrest the men," she said. "Or, don’t arrest the women and don’t arrest the men."

Sex buyers: ‘They’re 17, they’re 80’

Consumer demand is the only reason victims, brothels and traffickers exist, Shively said. And this demand is fueled by ease of access and no fear of getting caught, several experts said.

Christine Guida, a senior Nassau assistant district attorney who leads the human trafficking unit, said, "As long as people pay money for this, there are going to be traffickers and there are going to be victims."

The buyers aren’t a narrow slice of society, researchers say.

"They’re everybody. They’re young. They’re 17, they’re 80. They’re rich, they’re not," said Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of Arizona State University’s Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research.

Prices vary based on the sexual service or even a worker’s ethnicity. One spa worker told Newsday her manager priced Latina women at $100 or $150 per hour for "full service," and Asian women at $200 to $300 per hour.

Police have been using written depositions from male clients who paid for sexual services as evidence to charge the spa workers, a Newsday review of hundreds of court records found.

A male customer interviewed by police during a raid at a Baldwin spa said he paid the woman an extra $50 for a sexual service, according to the police report.

In a Jan. 16 raid in Oceanside, Nassau police arrested four women, ages 53 to 64, at New Angel's Healing Spa on Merrick Road. They interviewed at least two male customers.

A 30-year-old man, whom detectives found "laying naked on a massage table" as a 61-year-old woman exited the room, told police he usually paid $100 when he visited the spa: $50 for a half-hour massage and $50 for a sex service, court records show.

Nassau police did not arrest the men they named in court records reviewed by Newsday.

Difficult to prove

A Newsday analysis of state arrest data, local police reports and interviews with law enforcement sources, found Nassau and Suffolk police have not arrested men for buying sex at illicit massage spas in the last five years.

Police officials said it is difficult to prove that men are buying sex at spas even though — under New York law — buying sex is a more serious crime than selling it. "Patronizing a person for prostitution" is a class A misdemeanor punishable by a $1,000 fine or up to 1 year in jail; prostitution is punishable by a $500 fine or up to 6 months in jail.

When raiding allegedly illicit spas, detectives go undercover posing as customers. To make the arrest, they have to reach an agreement with a spa worker to buy sex. That becomes the basis for arresting women, officials say.

But to arrest customers, both Nassau and Suffolk police commissioners said, they must prove what happened behind closed doors — finding evidence the man agreed to pay for sex and wasn’t just there for a regular massage.

We can’t just arrest someone because they walked into a massage parlor.

—Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina

"We can’t just arrest someone because they walked into a massage parlor," Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said in an interview. "We don’t know for certain that person is going in there for any kind of illegal purpose."

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told Newsday they do arrest customers, but Newsday’s investigation into arrest records and state data revealed otherwise. The police department did not provide any records of spa customer arrests despite repeated requests from Newsday.

Spa workers have told Newsday they each service anywhere from five to 10 men per day, offering a tiny glimpse into the enormity of the illicit spa industry across Long Island.

"When you ignore the buyers, and you just go after the ... supply side, usually women and girls who are sexually exploited, it’s at best a temporary impact," Shively said. "Maybe it’s cleaned up for a while, but that business is just moving down the street. It’s not solving the problem."

A regular haunt

For Bill, buying sex at spas became a near-weekly habit.

"Even the regular spas, the legitimate ones, you get a massage from a girl in there who gives you a little more," he told Newsday, referring to "mixed-use" spas that provide both regular massages and illicit services.

After discovering Bedpage, an online site that advertises escorts and illicit massage spas across the country, an unmarked storefront on Grand Avenue in Massapequa became Bill’s regular haunt.

It sits between a children’s jiujitsu gym and an accountant’s office. Thick, black curtains covered the windows, along with a years-old awning advertising a wedding photography studio that once occupied the retail space. Newsday could not reach the spa’s owner for comment.

The door was always locked, Bill said. "As soon as I got to the door, they let me in. They’ve got cameras in front of the place to see who’s coming and going," he said. "If police wanted to raid the place, they’d see it on the camera."

Unlike other forms of prostitution — an escort service drawing men to motels, or a stretch of road that is home to street walkers soliciting customers — massage parlors are often considered low risk.

"It is absolutely the safest. And you can pay in cash, so you don’t need to have an electronic record of having been there," said Ian Hassell, CEO of The Network.

Said Pizzulli, the sex therapist: "If you want to see an escort, there are a lot more hoops to jump through. This is just walking off the street or making a massage appointment. Easy peasy."

A handful of online sites advertise erotic massages, featuring hundreds of images of women either topless or wearing lingerie.

Spa managers run a phone line that sex buyers can text or call, sharing price lists and instructing customers on whether to enter through the building’s back door.

A site called Utopia Guide features hundreds of reviews of illicit spas. Online users discuss the services received, rate the appeal of the women and even warn others about police raids.

"Careful with that black Tahoe parked in front of the shop," one man wrote Jan. 15.

"Damn, the Narcotics/Vice squad is killing us this week," another added.

After Newsday published the first story in its ongoing investigation on illicit massage spas, customers discussed it on Utopia Guide. "Can’t be good that newsday reporters are videotaping Johns[] ... Fuse is lit on these places, way too hot to be seen going into one."

Another wrote, "Are we part of the problem? Should we avoid posting our experiences here if doing so could increase the chances of our favorite spa receiving unwanted attention or being raided?"

‘Flush the Johns’

More than a decade ago, a Nassau prosecutor launched a high-profile enforcement action targeting sex buyers.

Then-Nassau District Attorney Kathleen Rice led a sting operation in 2013 called "Flush the Johns," arresting 104 sex buyers. An orthopedic surgeon, a volunteer firefighter and dozens of other men ranging in age from 17 to 79 were publicly named — their photos and hometowns displayed on a poster at a news conference.

"Sex workers are often vulnerable victims of traffickers and pimps, yet they too often remain the prime targets in prostitution investigations while the johns who fuel the exploitation are treated as mere witnesses," Rice said at the time.

Defense attorneys criticized the publicized arrests for humiliating the men. Brian Griffin, who sued Nassau County over a previous "Wall of Shame" of drunken driving suspects, said it was unconstitutional to group people together who were charged in separate incidents.

"It is unconstitutional if it’s done to publicly humiliate or shame people," he told Newsday at the time.

Most of the cases did not result in criminal convictions. Most of the men pleaded guilty to noncriminal charges, and others were either acquitted or got their charges dismissed, Newsday reported at the time.

Law enforcement stopped campaigns aimed at curbing the problem, including a class teaching sex buyers about human trafficking.

Rice, a Democrat who retired in 2022 after four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, declined to be interviewed for this story, but said in an email: "I am proud of the stand I took and I have no regrets. It was both fair and the right approach for public safety."

Illicit massage work can be a dangerous trade for many women — not just from possible traffickers, but from customers too.

"Any time you have commercial sex, you basically attract and generate every other felony you can think of," Shively said.

Research shows the illicit sex trade draws serious crimes ranging from weapons charges to drug sales and assault, he added.

Melissa Farley, a clinical psychologist and founder of the nonprofit Prostitution Research and Education, and her team interviewed 764 male sex buyers across six countries.

"We asked them, ‘What would deter you from buying sex?’" she said.

The No. 1 answer? One hour in jail with criminal charges, or their name appearing in a news story.

In the end, the police never caught Bill. His wife, Helena, who also asked that only her middle name be used to protect her privacy, followed him to a spa and confronted him.

The toll it took in their marriage was swift and devastating, they say. The couple is in therapy to rebuild their decades-long marriage.

"This just blew my world apart," Helena said.

NewsdayTV's Belisa Morillo contributed to this story.