5 takeaways from Newsday's investigation into Islip sex spas

Across most of Long Island, police are waging an aggressive enforcement campaign against the booming illegal sex trade, raiding more than 250 spas over the last five years. But in Islip, it seems to be thriving unchecked, despite repeated community complaints.

A Newsday investigation published late Wednesday revealed that in the state’s third-largest town, authorities raided only three spas in the past five years — and two of those came this month, after reporters began pressing officials on the issue.

The story is part of the "Sex Next Door" series that has looked into the booming business of illicit massage spas, the lack of men arrested during raids and the deportation risk faced by women arrested at spas in just one county. It continues Newsday’s larger investigation into sex trafficking on Long Island.

Here are five takeaways from Wednesday’s investigation:

1. Only male clients observed

Newsday identified a dozen spas in Islip advertised on sex sites such as Bedpage and AdultSearch. Even though police say they monitor these sites, the spas have not been raided.

Online, these spas tout "naughty Asian girls" and "4 girls willing and able to relax you." They are located in neighborhood strip malls, near ice cream shops and school bus stops, or in unmarked single-family homes. Others are tucked away inside office buildings, by doctors’ offices and real estate firms.

During more than 85 hours of surveillance, reporters observed only male clients at the un-raided spas. Neighboring business owners and their patrons said they’ve observed the same pattern.

"It is disgusting and it needs to be taken out of our community — 100%," said Zach Gonzalez, who manages a pet grooming business across the street from a Holbrook spa. "There's a lot of kids and family, very close knit. ... Everybody knows each other," Gonzalez said. "I see kids riding around all over the place. There's kids playing outside that damn shop."

2. Shifting answers on complaints

For months, an Islip spokeswoman didn’t directly answer questions about whether the town had received complaints about illicit spas. The spokeswoman, Caroline Smith, then said it hadn’t received any complaints, before revising her statement to say the town had "no open complaints."

It wasn’t until after Newsday presented the town with emails it received that showed a resident had repeatedly complained about a specific spa within the town that Smith said it wasn’t Islip’s responsibility to investigate prostitution at spas. One of the emails drew a direct response from Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter, who said she was forwarding the complaint to her "Public Safety team" and would contact police.

The complaints about this spa, Athena, went on for more than a year with no enforcement action, including when the sender followed up: "I continue to see reports of similar establishments in neighboring communities being investigated and addressed, which makes me concerned about what is happening here in Islip."

But on Tuesday — 24 hours after Newsday pressed town officials about why it hadn't acted — the fire marshal shuttered Athena for code violations.

3. Police commissioner points finger

Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina told Newsday it was a "valid point" to bring up the lack of enforcement in Islip compared to other areas of the county, and that he would look into it. His comments about Carpenter were particularly pointed.

"Does Angie Carpenter know that she has a Public Safety Department?" he said, later adding: "If Angie Carpenter had such a big problem with this, she probably could have had her fire marshal shut it down quite a while ago."

Catalina said town code enforcement is important because towns are able to shut illegal spas through code violations, something police cannot do. After police raids, many spas reopen the next day.

He said Suffolk police work closely with a number of towns. Asked if it works closely with Islip, he said, "No comment."

But the town had told Newsday it's solely the police's responsibility to investigate prostitution at spas.

"The Town does not investigate sex crimes," Public Safety Commissioner Anthony Prudenti said in a statement.

4. Spa owner denies selling sex

Among the spas featured in Newsday's investigation is Lavender Sea Spa, on the second floor of a renovated house in Sayville.

Newsday walked into the business and spoke to owner Feng "Co Co" Li. She said she opened the spa with her boyfriend and denied conducting illegal activity.

"We just do body rubs, not [sex]. We just do regular massage, nothing," Li said.

As recently as this month, there were 22 pages of ads for Lavender selling sex, and the business boasted "hundreds of satisfied customers."

The building owner, Michael Alcabes, runs a CPA office downstairs.

Alcabes, who declined requests for comment, opened his office in 2019 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by Carpenter. 

5. Lawmaker response

Previous Newsday reports on illicit spas prompted Nassau Legis. Viviana Russell (D-Westbury) to introduce a bill to regulate the trade.

The proposed law, which the GOP majority has not called for a vote, would fine spa owners up to $25,000 and recommend legal action against property owners who house the spas.

Suffolk legislators have not yet introduced legislation but say they are looking into action. Legis. Chad Lennon (C-Rocky Point) said he was researching possible bills, and Legis. Greg Doroski (D-Jamesport) said he also plans to sponsor something.

"Sex trafficking is a huge issue, directly linked to these illicit foot spas," said Doroski, adding that he did not know the extent of the problem until he read Newsday’s investigation. "This is absolutely something we should crack down on."

Newsday's ongoing sex trafficking investigation

Newsday's larger sex trafficking investigation has examined the role of hotels and motels in the crime. Gov. Kathy Hochul earlier this week signed a law that will penalize locations that fail to display mandatory human trafficking hotline and resource information.

The law imposes $500 fines on hotels and motels for the first offense and $1,000 for each subsequent offense if the information is not provided within 30 days of being notified by the state.

The Newsday investigation found nearly 60 motels on Long Island where at least one incident of sex trafficking, prostitution or a case of sex with a minor had occurred. 

In the last five years, arrests for prostitution or illegal massages at salons, spas and other establishments on Long Island have skyrocketed by more than 1,200%, according to Newsday’s investigation.