Why hasn't Islip Town done more to crack down on sex spas?

From the front, a foot spa with no name on the sign in a neighborhood strip mall on Islip Avenue appears closed. But in its rear parking lot, next to a church, a different story unfolds.

“Every hour on the hour, from a.m. to p.m., there’s two men go in and two men go out. Every day,” said Marisa Smith, owner of neighboring Lulu’s Hair Salon. “And we know what’s going on.”

From the Queens border to Riverhead, police are waging an aggressive enforcement campaign against the booming illegal sex trade across Long Island. They have raided more than 250 spas and arrested at least 400 women — a twelvefold increase in raids since 2021. But there’s one sprawling town where the trade seems to be thriving unchecked, despite repeated community complaints: Islip.

In the state’s third-largest town, authorities raided only three spas in the past five years, according to available records. One took place earlier this month after Newsday reporters began asking questions about illicit activity there. After Newsday inquired Monday about another illicit spa, Islip fire officials shut down that one the next day, citing code violations. 

Local authorities say cracking down on illegal spas is crucial because crimes such as drug dealing and money laundering are often tied to these businesses. Spas can also serve as hubs for sex trafficking, experts say, where many Chinese immigrant women are bound by excessive debts or fear retaliation against their family members back home if they attempt to break free.

Newsday identified a dozen spas in Islip advertised on sex sites such as Bedpage and AdultSearch. Even though police say they monitor these sites, the spas have not been raided.

During more than 85 hours of surveillance, reporters observed only male clients at the unraided spas. Neighboring business owners and their patrons said they’ve observed the same pattern.

For months, Islip Town spokeswoman Caroline Smith didn’t directly answer questions about whether the town had received public complaints about illicit massage businesses. Later, she said it had not received any complaints on foot spas. She then revised her statement to say the town has "no open complaints."

Emails obtained by Newsday show a town resident complained about the spa on Islip Avenue — known online as Athena — more than a year ago. The resident, who asked that her name not be used because she fears retaliation, showed Newsday an email she sent on Oct. 23, 2025, to Islip Supervisor Angie Carpenter, all four town board members, three Suffolk County legislators and the town’s public safety commissioner. She included the spa’s address and a link to a sex advertisement.

“It has come to my attention that this business may be offering illegal sexual services. Appointments appear to be arranged through text messages and phone calls, and there is a website openly listing this location as a brothel,” the email says.

Carpenter’s email response that evening said: “I have forwarded your email to our Public Safety team and will also be contacting the Third Precinct.”

Five months went by, and nothing happened, said the resident. She sent follow-up emails from February through June and included her phone number. She also said she called the Suffolk County police tip line Crime Stoppers six times. She never got a response.

“I continue to see reports of similar establishments in neighboring communities being investigated and addressed, which makes me concerned about what is happening here in Islip. As a parent, I care deeply about the SAFETY and character of OUR COMMUNITY, and I am concerned about the continued operation of this business,” she said in her June email.

Smith told reporters it is not the town’s responsibility to investigate prostitution at spas — that falls to police.

“The Town does not investigate sex crimes,” Public Safety Commissioner Anthony Prudenti said in a statement Oct. 21.

After more than a year of constituent complaints about alleged criminal activity at the spa, it wasn't until Newsday pressed town officials about why it hadn't acted that the fire marshal then shut down the spa for code violations. The town acted within just 24 hours after Newsday inquired about that address.

Newsday made several attempts to interview local officials about the lack of enforcement in Islip. Suffolk County Executive Edward P. Romaine, Carpenter and Prudenti all declined.

Landlord Massimo Montalbano did not return calls or an email for comment. 

Suffolk Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said in an interview Wednesday that it was a "valid point" to bring up the lack of enforcement in Islip and that he would look into it. 

He added, "Does Angie Carpenter know that she has a Public Safety Department?"

He went on, "If Angie Carpenter had such a big problem with this, she probably could have had her fire marshal shut it down quite a while ago," he said. 

Catalina said town code enforcement is important because towns are able to shut down illegal spas through code violations, something police cannot do. After police raids, many spas reopen the next day. 

He said Suffolk police work closely with a number of towns. Asked if it works closely with Islip, he said, "No comment."

Late in the interview, Catalina said he received information that the spa on Islip Avenue is the subject of a "long-term investigation" but declined to provide more details.

Lack of enforcement

An overwhelming majority of Long Islanders — 77%, according to a Sept. 24 Newsday/Siena University poll — want officials to crackdown on illicit massage spas and the landlords who rent to them.

Towns like Huntington have moved aggressively to address the problem, fining landlords up to $25,000 and ordering 15 days in jail for repeat offenses. Farmingdale Village has a similar measure. Babylon Town has a unit that actively monitors illegal activities in the area and passed a law requiring massage spas to apply for a town license.

Islip's borders stretch north as far as the Long Island Expressway and Veterans Highway and to the Great South Bay. It encompasses communities from Central Islip to Brightwaters up to parts of Holbrook. Holbrook is where former Suffolk Police Officer George Trimigliozzi and former Islip High School physical education teacher Steven Arey managed a brothel for nearly five years before authorities investigated. Police only opened an investigation because they were looking into Trimigliozzi for unrelated infractions, Newsday has reported.

Islip’s unraided spas are scattered throughout town. Some are located in neighborhood strip malls, near ice cream shops and school bus stops, or in unmarked single-family homes. Others are tucked away inside office buildings, by doctors’ offices and real estate firms.

Sex ads and reviews online

CPA Michael Alcabes’ office, located in a renovated house on North Main Street in Sayville, appears unassuming across from a busy shopping plaza. On the second floor is Lavender Sea Spa, a business with an illicit online profile. As recently as this month, there were 22 pages of ads for Lavender selling sex, and the business boasted “hundreds of satisfied customers.” On the online forum Utopioguide, the spa is mentioned in 34 customer reviews about sexual services allegedly performed.

“4 girls willing and able to relax you,” says one ad. Another says, “today we have 2 asian woman … very big on top.”

Only men were observed going in and out of unraided Lavender Sea Spa at half-hour intervals over four days of surveillance by Newsday journalists in mid-September.

Alcabes owns the building. He opened his office in 2019 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony attended by town supervisor Carpenter, who has declined requests for an interview about illicit massage businesses in Islip.

He declined to come out of his office for an interview with Newsday reporters. Alcabes also owns a separate detached building that houses a therapist’s office serving adults and children.

Lavender Sea Spa owner Feng “Co Co” Li said she opened the business with her boyfriend and that they are not involved in illegal activity. “We just do body rubs, not [sex]. We just do regular massage, nothing,” Li said in an interview Oct. 22 inside the spa.

In online posts on a customer review website, the spa advertised “Co Co” as one of several women available for hire that day and included the spa’s phone number. But when asked about those ads, Li said she does not advertise.

A Newsday investigation revealed that there are a number of illicit spas that operate out of office buildings.

In Ronkonkoma, an office building on Ocean Avenue houses Coldwell Banker Realty and C&Q Spa.

The real estate firm keeps its front door locked. But the spa entrance is open with a neon sign and relaxing music playing. Several male customers were observed entering the spa on two occasions in October.

There are at least five online reviews by men who say they bought sex at the unraided spa last year.

Coldwell Banker employees declined to comment. The building’s landlord, Anthony Izzo, also declined to comment about the online reviews.

An office building in Hauppauge, across from a public library, has tenants ranging from medical and law offices to a music academy for special learners. It also houses an unraided spa with at least 11 reviews on sex sites.

Employees at Ultimate Abstract, the title company next door, said they thought the spa, known as Hauppauge Asian Spa online, was a legitimate business because its name sounded similar to a popular national massage spa chain. But when they saw a constant stream of male customers, they complained to their company president, who complained to the landlord.

The title company employees said the landlord recently evicted the spa. The building’s landlord, Enrico Scarda, did not return a call for comment.

Strip malls a hot spot

Many illicit spas on Long Island are operating out of small neighborhood strip malls.

Sandwiched between a smoke shop and a Chinese restaurant in Oakdale, Relaxing Station Sisy Spa has large posters on its windows, blocking the view of the inside. On the front door, there are two police decals, one from the Suffolk County Deputy Sheriffs Police Benevolent Association and the other from the Suffolk Police Conference, a coalition of village and countywide law enforcement agencies. Some people believe displaying such stickers will protect them from law enforcement, said Tyron Pope, an assistant professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a retired NYPD detective sergeant.

“They can create some expectation of a professional courtesy or favorable treatment,” he said. “But they don’t provide legal immunity or exemption from anything.”

Li, who did not give her full name, said in Mandarin that she co-owned the spa and that it was not involved in any illegal activity.

“It's so disgusting,” she said. “We've been working for so many years. Never. Nothing like this has ever happened.”

State records show Mei Mei Wang is the spa’s owner.

There are at least 28 online reviews involving sexual activity at Relaxing Station Sisy Spa, as well as ads on Bedpage. Only men were observed entering and leaving the unraided spa during a five-hour period over two days in late October.

The spa’s landlord, Oakdale Retail Properties, declined to comment about accusations regarding the business.

Less than 10 miles away in the hamlet of Holbrook, Blue Ocean Spa operated for about a year inside a neighborhood strip mall near a school bus stop.

On the website, Bedpage, the spa advertised “naughty Asian girls.”

“It is disgusting and it needs to be taken out of our community — 100%,” said Zach Gonzalez, who manages Ooh La La Posh Pets Dog Grooming across the street. “There's a lot of kids and family, very close knit. … Everybody knows each other. … I see kids riding around all over the place. There's kids playing outside that damn shop.”

Two weeks after Newsday reporters observed only male customers entering the spa and interviewed neighbors, police and town officials raided the spa. Detectives arrested one woman, charging her with prostitution and unauthorized practice of a profession.

The spa is closed.

Many illicit spas that have been raided or shut down resume operations almost immediately under the same or altered name, Newsday has reported.

When Newsday called the home of strip mall owner Susan Cucinella, the man who answered said she wasn’t available and declined to comment.

Illicit spas near churches and schools

In Brentwood, an employee at the dental office next to Pan Chai Spa recalled what she said was a harrowing experience on a September night in 2025. She said she heard a woman screaming and saw several spa workers running from a man who was inside the spa.

Patricia, who asked that her last name not be used because she is afraid of retaliation, called the police. Eight to 10 officers immediately showed up, but they let the man go and told her there was no crime to investigate, she said.

She provided reporters a copy of her police paperwork dated Sept. 10, 2025, with a central complaint number. Newsday requested the police report but had not yet received it by late October. Suffolk police did not respond to questions about the incident.

Afterward, the spa took down its exterior sign, but Patricia said it continues to run its business — with a highly visible online presence of 45 pages of sexually provocative photos advertising various women on UtopiaGuide and 29 more pages of sex reviews on the same site.

Pan Chai’s landlord, Jennifer Young Son, did not respond to multiple emails about the incident and the online posts.

Three other Islip spas in neighborhood strip malls continue to advertise sex online.

On Main Street in East Islip, Aura Bodywork's website says: “Gentleman only.” On the Bedpage sex site, an advertisement for the spa shows photos of young Asian women in lingerie.

The spa is located across the street from St. Mary School, a Catholic primary school.

Menailos Samaras, the strip mall’s owner, could not be reached for comment. A woman who answered the phone at the spa declined to comment.

On Carleton Avenue in Central Islip, Zhen Zhen Spa is named in at least 52 online sex reviews.

Frank Scagluso, attorney for the landlord, Kareem Jawdat, said, “We’re not aware of any issue requiring action.”

Another landlord, Dr. Aijaz Khan, said the Chinese Bodywork spa on West Suffolk Avenue in Central Islip was already there when he bought the strip mall in November 2025. He said he was surprised to learn that the business advertised on various sex sites.

“If anything illegal is happening, we will not tolerate it,” Khan said. “I am extremely upset. The last thing I need is anything illegal on my property.”

A woman answering the phone at the spa denied any illegal activity.

In a Bay Shore strip mall with a veterans’ medical center, landlord Anthony Quintal said he was appalled when he was told there was sex being sold at Bay Massage. He immediately evicted the spa nearly two months ago, he said. “We don’t stand for any of that nonsense.”

Newsday found at least one spa operating inside a single-family home in Bay Shore.

About 20 men a day show up in pricey cars at the nondescript house on Fifth Avenue next to an evangelical church, said Zach and Henry Kane, owners of Bay Shore Beverage Barn across the street.

In reviews of sex by men who say they were customers on UtopiaGuide and Rubmaps as recently as September, the place is known as Starry Sky Spa.

Dave Creem, who owns the home through a company called DRL Property Preservation, did not return a call for comment. DRL, based in Waterbury, Connecticut, does property maintenance and cleanouts, according to Creem’s LinkedIn profile.

A woman who answered the spa’s phone declined to comment.

Michelle, who lives across the street and declined to give her last name because she said she fears retaliation, said, “I only see [men] at the crack of dawn stumbling out, or see cars lining up.”

She never bothered to call the police about it because she didn’t expect them to respond, she said. “We’re like the forgotten area.”

After five weeks of surveillance by Newsday reporters outside the Islip spas, ads started disappearing from sex sites and men who arrived for appointments abruptly left.

Politicians are 'looking into it'

Newsday has reported extensively on illicit massage spas in its series Sex Next Door.

The stories, which reported police arrests of hundreds of women and none of their customers, prompted Nassau Legis. Viviana Russell (D-Westbury) and the Democratic minority caucus to introduce a bill in August to regulate illicit massage spas.

The proposed law would fine spa owners up to $25,000 and recommend legal action against property owners who house the spas.

Legis. Howard Kopel (R-Lawrence), the Nassau Legislature's majority leader who decides which bills get voted on, left the bill off the legislative calendar in September and October. He told Newsday he was working with the administration to revise the bill but did not give a time frame.

Suffolk legislators have not introduced legislation but say they are looking into a bill after Russell proposed her bill.

Republican Legis. Chad Lennon, of Rocky Point, said in an email he was researching possible bills but gave no time frame on when he might introduce it.

Legis. Greg Doroski (D-Jamesport) told Newsday he plans to sponsor a bill to regulate illicit massage spas but that he is still researching it. Doroski, who serves on the Suffolk Legislature’s public safety committee, said he did not know the extent of the problem until he read Newsday’s investigation.

"Sex trafficking is a huge issue, directly linked to these illicit foot spas," he said.

“This is absolutely something we should crack down on.”

'God answers prayers'

After the town shut down the Athena Spa on Islip Avenue this week, a reporter went there. Two workers were gathering their belongings from inside the spa and said they canceled appointments with customers for the following day.

A man in Army fatigues showed up at the spa but was turned away. He asked a reporter for a recommendation for where else he could go for a massage. 

The owner of a neighboring business was elated after learning from a reporter that the spa had been shut down. She declined to give her name but said, "Can I give you a hug? Wow, God answers prayers."