ATLANTIC BEACH, Fla. — A busy shopping center just off Atlantic and 3rd is known for upscale stores, a French bistro, and now — a prostitution arrest.
The owner of Ocean Massage and an employee were arrested Thursday evening on prostitution charges. Security footage from a neighboring business shows two people being taken from the building and into a police car.
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Colleen Romero owns a business in the shopping center. She says she was grateful an arrest had been made. She says she had noticed changes to the shopping center already, even though Ocean Massage was only open for a few weeks.
“We are, unfortunately, next-door,” she says.
She says the other businesses in the shopping center grew suspicious of Ocean Massage early on.
“There were a lot of male clients mainly going into that area. We did have some reports of customers that were female going in there and we’re getting turned away. So they were coming into our business to ask about it,” she says.
Atlantic Beach police say online the arrests were made after complaints of suspicious behavior began coming in. Neighbors say they knew something was up.
“Seeing a change in the makeup of who comes around and who comes to these shops… it’s mainly middle-age men waiting on their phone for a text message,” says the owner of another neighboring store.
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Our law and safety expert Dale Carson has years of law enforcement experience — he says the owner will likely face the most severe charges.
“For the owner of the property, if it is a massage parlor but they are engaging in an activity that is not strictly massage… then the result is it could be a third-degree felony for the owner,” Carson says.
The employee could face up to 90 days in jail, and the parlor’s license will likely be revoked.