The state has now officially launched an investigation of Showgun Spa in Uncasville, a health department spokesman said Wednesday.
“We have a pending investigation into this matter,” confirmed Department of Public Health Director of Communications William Gerrish.
The 65-year-old woman who owns and operates Showgun Spa in the Gristmill Plaza was convicted in New York of promoting prostitution, a felony, and had her massage therapy license pulled in that state as a result, Montville Patch reported last month.
Nan Suk S. Clark, of Queens, NY, 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, 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.
Westchester County investigators and the New York City Police Department detectives raided two massage parlors after a two-month investigation where four women were found to have “engaged or offered to engage in sexual conduct with another person in return for a fee” during illegally performed massages. .Clark was not one of the four women; she was their “supervisor.”
Following being arrested and then convicted of “promoting prostitution, Clark was forced to surrender her license to practice massage in New York.
The Connecticut license question
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. So, two years after the New York conviction, in 2009, Clark came to Connecticut, registered her new business with the state and opened shop on Route 32.
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. And we now know the state health department is investigating.
What Clark said
Montville Patch tried to get inside the business to get look, but was stopped first by a locked door and then Clark, who said entry was permissible but without the camera, and then changed her mind but before closing the door,
Clark denied she was convicted of prostitution in New York and said in any event, she’s “not doing that,” referring to running a massage parlor that engages in prostitution.
What’s said about Showgun Spa online
Patch has not and will not provide links to the reviews of the services allegedly available at Showgun Spa, but a very 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."
What locals (and local officials) said
Following resident outrage that the business was featured in Patch’s business-listing directory, we launched our own investigation into Showgun Spa and the business and owner Clark.
Montville Mayor Ronald McDaniel, who also wears the hat of town Police Chief, said last month he was “unaware of any illegal activity” at Showgun Spa.
And the then-newly installed Resident State Trooper at the Montville Police, Sgt. Martin "Marti" Martinez, had been on the job for about a month and was new to Montville; he’d never even heard of the business, he said.
