![]() was administratively dissolved in August 2016 for failure to file a biennial report. A picture of a tropical island surrounded by blue ocean hangs on the wall, with Chinese ornamentation sprinkled through the business.ĭougherty continues to work out of the parlor, though Iowa Secretary of State documents show Beijing Massage Inc. Two tiled showers and a sauna in new condition were seen.Ī price menu for massages was visible above the desk. Massage beds were visible through the door. When the journalists returned for a follow-up interview a few days later, the licenses had been taken off the wall.ĭougherty showed parts of the parlor: a red runner rug crosses the neutral carpet to a backroom with deep red shag carpeting. Both institutes in California and Georgia have been blacklisted on the National Certification Board for Therapeutic Massage and Bodywork School Compliance list for at least six years, according to the list. Though no Wisconsin license was posted, she showed a license from the Georgia Academy of Massage, a license from the California Acupuncture and Massage Institute of America and a license from an institute in China. She pointed to three certificates hanging above a desk. 'I want to try,' she said.ĭougherty said she had a Wisconsin massage therapy license. Records show she does not have a state massage license, but Dougherty said she does not 'need it here' in Cedar Rapids - although she said she gives full body and deep tissue massages. ![]() ![]() She said she practiced massage therapy in China before moving to the United States about seven years ago. She said a young woman sitting there also was Bei Fang's only other employee.īusiness was so bad, 'maybe she (will) leave tomorrow,' Dougherty said of her employee.ĭougherty said she doesn't speak fluent English and communicated partly during the interview through a translation app on her phone.Īsked why she opened in Cedar Rapids after the Marion experience, Dougherty said she is good at giving massages. When a reporter and photographer went to Bei Fang Massage to speak to Dougherty, she directed the journalists to sit in brown suede armchairs at the front of the small business. as an Iowa for-profit corporation.īusiness lately at Bei Fang Massage has not been great, Dougherty said in an interview. 'However, if there is any information that illegal activity is occurring at any massage business in our community and there would be benefits to changing the ordinance to prevent crime, the police department would certainly consider it,' Jerman said.ĭougherty opened Bei Fang Massage in Cedar Rapids in 2014, according to Secretary of State business records, where it's filed under the name Beijing Massage Inc. Jerman, who typically recommends ordinance changes on public safety issues, said he has not seen a need for one on massage licensing. In an interview, Cedar Rapids Police Chief Wayne Jerman said his officers have never been called to or had issues with Dougherty's business. In the wake of raids on Dougherty's and another parlor in Marion, the Marion City Council added a provision to an ordinance requiring that a city license for a massage business be granted only if the massage workers have a state massage license - effectively shutting out Dougherty and the other parlor. The answer, at least partly, lies in city regulations for massage parlors, which now are more lax in Cedar Rapids than in Marion. The parlor may be 'an erotic massage provider,' wrote the resident, whose name was redacted from the public record provided to The Gazette. That's the question a Linn County resident asked in March 2016 of the Iowa Board of Massage Therapy, urging the board to look into the parlor's operation. How is it possible for an unlicensed operator to run a massage parlor down the road from where her previous massage parlor was raided by police? Iowa Code states the practice of massage therapy that 'involves manipulation of the muscle and connective tissue of the body' for pay 'is strictly prohibited by unlicensed individuals.' Still, a Marion police lieutenant said he gave the Cedar Rapids Police Department a heads-up when Dougherty set up shop in the city.ĭougherty did not have an Iowa massage license when she operated the parlor in Marion, records show, and still does not have one - though she said in an interview she performs massages and wants to try to get one. Despite prodding from police, Linn County Attorney Jerry Vander Sanden expressed reservations about the investigation in a memo and declined to prosecute the case against Dougherty.
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