Post for Cold Spring firm promises ‘sexy girls’
A spa that opened on Main Street in Cold Spring earlier this year and another in Beacon are promoted on adults-only websites with language that implies prostitution.
Good Life Wellness Spa, at 145 Main St. in Cold Spring, and Rose Eliza Spa Beacon at 4 Eliza St. in Beacon, are each advertised in posts on sites such as LoveEscort, Bedpage, Rubsguide and XEscortHub. The latter includes a typical legal disclaimer that escorts “do not necessarily involve sexual services.”
The owners of Good Life Wellness told the Cold Spring Planning Board last year in an application for a change-of-use variance for its rented space that it would offer acupressure, reflexology, skin treatment and skin care.
Its phone number and Cold Spring address are promoted on sites with ads that promise “unique massage techniques with sexy girls bring you pleasure. Makes you happy quickly.” A similar posting on Bedpage said “two new Asian girls” in “good shape” with a “desire to please you” had joined the Cold Spring location.
“Our alluring companions are available for engagements” and “open to all your desires and fantasies,” it said.
The Rose Eliza Spa promised in an ad that it had “new sweet girls” who are “open-minded” and will “treat you specially.” One post features a video clip of a woman making hand motions that suggest manual sex. The spa’s website does not contain similar language or images and provides a price list for standard treatments and reflexology.
It was difficult to identify the owners of the businesses or to reach them. A woman who answered the phone at Good Life Wellness said she did not speak English well and declined to take a phone message for Yan Min Cao, listed on the Planning Board application as the manager. She said a request for information should be sent by text, which received no response.
The spa, which is on the second floor, says in the window it is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily. No one answered the doorbell on a weekday morning.
A woman who answered the phone number given on the Planning Board application for Cheng Fisher, identified as a spa representative, said Fisher was not available and that Good Life Wellness had been sold. Fisher did not respond to a message sent to an email address provided to the Planning Board.
The building owner declined comment and did not respond to a request for contact information for the spa’s owner. Good Life Wellness Spa Inc. was incorporated in June 2024, according to state records, with Yinghua Lui as its registered agent but no contact information beyond the Cold Spring address.
A woman who answered the phone at Rose Eliza said her English was not good and asked a reporter to send a text. Asked who posted the online ads, she wrote: “We don’t know.” She wrote that “the boss has returned to China” and “there are only workers here.” She added: “We have a regular massage [business]” and sent photos of female customers whom she said were “frequent visitors.”
Rose Eliza Spa Inc. was incorporated in October 2023, according to state records, with Lihua Li as its registered agent, but no contact information is provided beyond its Beacon address. A message left in person with an employee at the salon was not returned.
The owner of the building that includes 4 Eliza St. said in a phone call in April: “Thank you for bringing these ads to my attention. I had never seen these posts before and am appalled. It goes against our lease terms, and we will be taking immediate action.” He did not respond to subsequent inquiries.
Soon after the Rose Eliza spa opened last summer, a user on AMP Reviews, a website in which men discuss their experiences at “Asian massage parlors,” requested “any intel on [the new] Rose Spa in Beacon (Eliza St)? I see them advertising on Skip the Games,” another escort directory.
A reviewer who posted in August 2024 said his experience at Rose Eliza had been “very mechanical” with “no engagement.” A second user who posted in March said he paid $80 for a massage but left disappointed. In response, a user complained that some businesses are promoted on adult sites only “to get you in the door.”
There are no reviews for Good Life Wellness. But many other spas in the Hudson Valley are promoted and reviewed on adult websites, including with addresses in Carmel, Newburgh, Poughkeepsie, Pawling, Fishkill and Hopewell Junction.
Although there is no evidence that illegal activity has taken place at any of these locations, including in Cold Spring or Beacon, a Putnam Valley couple, Hong Ru “Bruce” Lin, 51, and Kena “Angela” Zhao, 46, were sentenced in January to prison terms for running a prostitution ring from 2020 to 2023 from massage parlors in Mahopac, Yonkers and New York City. They also were ordered to forfeit $1.3 million. The couple was indicted after an investigation by the FBI and the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office.
In Rockland County, police in Clarkstown said in March they had arrested seven women, ages 41 to 59, at five businesses on charges of prostitution and practicing massage therapy without a state license. Following the arrests, the town took three landlords to court to shut down the businesses and for zoning violations.
Polaris, a nonprofit that works to end trafficking, says many women who work at illicit massage parlors are newly arrived from China or South Korea, carry debts or are under financial pressure, speak little or no English, have no more than a high school education and are mothers in their mid-30s to late-50s. They are controlled through debt, fear of law enforcement or deportation, shame and threats to their families, the organization says.
I am pleased this expose was printed. Local leaders and anyone who believes in a standards-based community needs to consider the trend highlighted in this article. It needs to be engaged consistently with no let-up. It is a cultural and quality of life issue in small communities and has nothing to do with selective morality. The picture of the girl with the caption “New Sweet Girls” appears intentionally to be a child. Like a lot of you, I am from New York and will not play dumb. I can recognize an ad for child/adolescent prostitution. Unless we want this to grow, it needs to be stopped immediately. It does not matter to me what sex act did or did not take place. The idea that this is being advertised here as a commercial service is sick and warped and anyone who accepts this is the same. Even if some legal lowlife makes the claim that “nothing happened,” that the commercial message is protected as exploitive marketing. Don’t fall for it. Don’t play with these people. It is not a game, they will slowly but certainly devour your community’s quality of life. These real properties need to conform to community standards. Their owners need to be seen in the sunlight, then stopped through the law and public pressure. If law enforcement needs to play whack-a-mole until legislators find the spine to protect us, I encourage law enforcement to play whack-a-mole hard. There is just too much money in prostitution. If they… Read more »
Thank you for this article. I live across the street from Rose Eliza Spa. I can assure you that from its first day, the spa has operated at odd hours (including being open until 10 or 11 p.m. every night), and the only customers I’ve seen go in appear to be men who are buzzed in late at night when the lights are off. My objection is less with the business, which has been harmless to the neighborhood, but with the building owner. His apparent unawareness (as evidenced by the quote provided in the article) seems like neglect. Increased rents essentially kicked out the previous tenants, and this questionable business came in. If the owner stopped in for five minutes, he would see what is going on.
This story reeks of Asian hate. You’re just guessing that what is going on there is wrong. Are there any facts? Is there any proof? Have there been any arrests? I thought we supported local businesses.
Did The Current consider the harm this article could cause the workers? Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) often responds to reports like this with raids that lead to deportation, not protection. Nowhere does the article share contact information for human trafficking organizations. That is the first thing that jumped out at me, indicating the story was not published out of concern for anyone. [via Instagram]