GREEN BAY, WI (WTAQ) — The Green Bay Common Council is expected to consider an ordinance aimed at targeting massage parlors and other businesses acting as fronts for illicit prostitution dens.
The ordinance, brought up by 8th district Alderman Chris Wery, was discussed during a Monday night committee meeting. Wery says several such businesses have been popping up in Green Bay.
“In the last few months we’ve seen a growth of these parlors around the city, especially on Military Avenue,” Wery told WTAQ. “We’ve had reports from other business owners and residents of strange occurrences like clients going in through the back door of these businesses, putting all their shades down so that you can’t see in, and workers dressed…not very professionally.”
It’s not just prostitution that has come on the council concerned. It’s the reports of possible human trafficking that have been coming alongside them. Wery says some of the parlors have been traced back to Chicago area “escort services”.
“We’ve had a report of…some workers would come and go every day in the same van,” Wery said Tuesday. “They would show up, these young ladies, and arrive and be taken away late at night.”
The ordinance would enhance licensing requirements for massage parlors in the city in hopes of forcing illicit parlors to close.
