City of Casper Attempts to Weed Out Illegitimate Massage Parlors - Wyoming News Now

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The city of Casper is making an effort to weed out illegitimate massage parlors in the city. We spoke with locals about the changes to business licenses for massage parlors proposed by the city.

Police Chief Keith McPheeters spoke at the November 12 City Council meeting in Casper in regards to police investigations of various massage parlors around town.

“What we’re finding, is there’s a clear-cut distinction between those legitimate [massage parlors] and those other ones. To the naked eye, it’s rather alarming,” the chief said.

McPheeters claims that a 2020 ordinance that set up various licensing requirements for massage therapists in Casper is not having the desired effect of preventing illegitimate practices from engaging in prostitution or sex trafficking.

After a quick search on the web, Your Wyoming Link found there are 27 massage parlors currently operating in Casper. In addition to that, there are over 15 more salon-like facilities that offer massage services. Which begs the question; for a city with a population just under 60,000 people, is there really a need for 27 massage parlors? Is it possible that not all of these places are really what they seem to be?

McPheeters elaborated on the ordinance in the city council meeting,

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“We have found that the persons that we believe were, maybe even victims themselves of a trafficking operation, had been able to be licensed given the ordinances that currently reads today. We were not picking that up. Even though members of staff in my department were kind of cocking an eye to [possibly illegitimate massage parlor operations], or it didn’t feel right, the tools that we had didn’t prevent that from happening. So, even though the illegitimate conduct was happening, at the time of investigation, they were legitimately in our city with a permit to do so.”

We also chatted with Casper local Rachel Braunstein, who told us she’s definitely noticed an over-saturation of massage parlors.

“There’s too many! I think that they’re, well, trafficking,” Rachel said of the various massage parlors around town.

One of the new requirements that is being considered in the ordinance revamp is an annual license renewal. At the city council meeting, Casper city councilor Amber Pollock made the point that perhaps these requirements may become burdensome for legitimate operations.

We spoke with a massage therapist who wishes to remain anonymous. She expressed concerns regarding a yearly license renewal, explaining the process is lengthy and time consuming. She feels as though this ordinance puts a stigma around massage therapy as a whole, and is frustrated with the idea of her legitimate operation being lumped in with people that are day-lighting as massage parlors but engaging in possible prostitution and/or sex trafficking.