The 65-year-old woman who owns and operates Showgun Spa in Uncasville was convicted in New York of promoting prostitution, a felony, and had her massage therapy license pulled in that state as a result, a Montville Patch investigation revealed.
Nan Suk S. Clark, of Queens, NY, is the license holder and corporation agent for the Gristmill Plaza massage parlor, according to state records.
Clark was convicted in 2006 for promoting and profiting from prostitution services in two Westchester County massage parlors, according to prosecution documents.
Identified with the alias "Candy" by New York prosecutors, Clark, 65, was found guilty of advancing and profiting from “prostitution activity conducted by three female employees who the defendant supervised,” according to a press release issued in 2007 by Assistant District Attorney Steven Vandervelden, Chief of the Organized Crime and Criminal Enterprise Bureau in Westchester.
According to the documents obtained by Patch, Westchester investigators and the New York City Police Department raided two massage parlors after a two-month investigation where four women performed massages — without licenses — “and engaged or offered to engage in sexual conduct with another person in return for a fee.” Clark was not one of the four women; she was their “supervisor.”
Following the conviction, Clark was forced to surrender her license to practice massage in New York.
Move to Connecticut
The loss of her New York license did not stop her from practicing in Connecticut; well before the Westchester case, Clark had already applied for and received a Connecticut license in 2001 (DOPH Lic. # 2517). That license expires in 2013. According to state records, she is facing no disciplinary actions.
Two years after the New York conviction, Clark opened up shop in Montville. According to the Secretary of the State, she registered her Route 32 massage parlor as a limited liability corporation in 2009.
When a person applies for a license to practice massage therapy in Connecticut, the license is awarded by the state Department of Public Health. A number of requirements must be met before the license is granted including verification of course of study and board certification, a $375 application fee and verification from other states where one is or was licensed.
That form, to be completed by the state where the applicant has (or had) another license, incudes a section on any disciplinary action. It is unclear what, if any, information Clark provided about her conviction. Numerous calls to DOPH — from licensing to the legal department — went unreturned.
A Visit to the Spa
With a camera in hand, a reporter attempted to get inside the location twice but was stopped first by a locked door and then Clark, who said, among other things, that entry was permissible but without the camera, and then changed her mind and denied access.
But before closing the door the second time Montville Patch showed up, Clark denied the prostitution conviction. When pressed to answer whether or not she was running an illegal massage parlor here, similar to the one she was convicted of running in New York, she said flatly: “No, not doing that.”
Online Reviews
Patch will not be providing links to the reviews of the alleged services available at Showgun Spa; the majority are contained on 'adult' sites. But it was not difficult to locate them via a basic Internet search.
A cursory online search revealed numerous "reviews" and referrals about the type of services one can allegedly receive at the Montville location, including what’s described as a ‘happy ending’ with graphic details of sex services, including a table shower. A number of client reviews include graphic descriptions of services beyond the so-called "happy ending."
On one site, a "sex guide," a number of reviewers share their alleged experiences at Showgun. One, posted by OffTheRail, said "I've never left unhappy," and another, B2000, describes in lurid detail the services he received by Coco. Several reviewers describe at least two young Asian women working there.
Local Awareness
Montville Patch began its investigation of the spa after residents shared their outrage that the business was featured in Patch’s business-listing directory.
Mayor Ronald McDaniel, who is also Chief of Police, said he was unaware of any illegal activity at business.
The newly installed Resident State Trooper at the Montville Police Department, Sgt. Martin "Marty" Martinez, has been on the job for five weeks and said he'd never even heard of the business.
