Lawmakers crack down on illicit massage parlors in the state

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah lawmakers are meeting Wednesday to address a growing problem of illicit massage parlors within the state.

Ryan Wilcox, the Utah chair of the Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Interim Committee, said the businesses masquerade as normal massage parlors. In reality, they are fronts for money laundering, prostitution, and human trafficking.

“I think this is kind of a weak point in our regulatory law enforcement structure where particularly in small jurisdictions … it’s difficult to enforce,” Wilcox said.

Wilcox said he’s shocked by how many of these operations there are in Utah.

“The Salt Lake metro area is slotting in [at] around seventeenth in the country per capita,” he said.

According to Wilcox, it’s happening right under people’s noses. 

“Almost every major community in Utah … [and] the western United States has been infiltrated,” he said.

On Wednesday, the committee is meeting to write up some proposed legislation for this coming session to increase penalties for illicit massage parlors. It also wants to educate everyone involved from police to landlords on how to handle these -oftentimes- dangerous organizations.

The plan is to create strict penalties and fines. Wilcox hopes Utah becomes a very difficult place for illicit massage parlors to operate.

Britt Johnson is a reporter and anchor for KSL NewsRadio.