Crime & Safety

No 'Happy Ending' for Proposed Massage Parlor?

Village officials take no action on woman's request to open a massage establishment here because she wasn't present.

**Updated 4:50 p.m. March 18 

The Sturtevant Planning Commission did not review a conditional-use permit for a massage parlor on Thursday because the applicant was not present at the meeting.

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K & J Health Centers, according to paperwork filed with the village, was slated to take space at 8020 Durand Avenue as a "massage establishment." Yun Coyne of Chicago is the applicant listed on village paperwork.

Lt. Matt Argadine with the Griffith Police Department in Indiana, said his officers conducted a prostitution sting operation on a K & J Health center in that city on March 14. A vehicle observed leaving the area was stopped and searched. During the search, police discovered a briefcase containing an application packet for a K & J Health Center in Sturtevant with Coyne’s name on it.

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“The person who owned the briefcase had Planning Commission paperwork for a K & J Health Center in Sturtevant,” he said. “One of my officers called Sturtevant to tell them the paperwork was found and that the applicant might not be attending the meeting.”

Coyne was never arrested by Griffith police and is not a suspect in any cases in Griffith.

“Our investigation is closed and we have filed charges on one person, but that person is not Yun Coyne,” Argadine said.

A person identifying herself as Coyne sent Patch an email that matches a comment posted on this story saying she would travel to Griffith to talk to police there. According to Argadine, a woman who said her name was Yun Coyne did meet with him Monday, and she was upset.

Patch has reached out to Coyne by phone and by email, and we will update this story again when we hear from her.

A village official told Patch police in Griffith alerted Sturtevant officials on Thursday that Coyne might be in their custody, and she did not attend Thursday's Planning Commission meeting.

No action was taken on the application last week, but if Coyne would like the matter taken up by the Plan Commission next month, she needs to contact the village because the application wasn’t complete. Still, Village Clerk/Interim Administrator Mary Cole said the matter automatically is held over until the commission meets in April.

“At that time, if the application is still not complete or the applicant again isn’t present, then the application would get denied,” she added.

Cole said ordinances are very strict about massage therapy establishments.

"We have a strict criteria to help protect against potentially illegal operations," she said.

Included in the language of the ordinance are sanitation requirements and that therapists have written documentation from a medical doctor that they are free of communicable diseases, including STDs.

Cole also said that while Coyne’s name is listed on the application, two men were the ones who actually came to Village Hall to turn in the paperwork.


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