07/05/29 02:55:52 VP4JA00e0
URLﾘﾝｸ(www.longmontfyi.com)
Spa closes after 3 raids, Owner was arrested in December, charged with pimping
By Pierrette J. Shields, The Daily Times-Call
LONGMONT ? A local spa that’s been the target of three prostitution raids closed up shop and
moved out sometime over the weekend or on Monday, according to police.
A trash bin outside of Spring Spa at 380 Lashley St. was overflowing Monday, and the building
was completely cleaned out. No signs were posted on the building’s exterior to direct customers elsewhere.
Longmont police raided the spa three times between 2002 and 2007 based on information gathered
from interviews with men who admitted to paying for sexual services at the establishment.
Owner Sue Blizard was arrested during the most recent raid in December. She is scheduled to appear
in Boulder District Court on May 17 for a preliminary hearing on charges of pimping and keeping a place of prostitution.
The nature of the spa’s business was initially called into question in 2001 when women began complaining
to police about charges from the spa on their husbands’ and boyfriends’ credit cards, according to reports
at the time. Women also were turned away as customers, police reported.
Sgt. Tim Lewis said in December that police believed three Korean women worked as prostitutes at the spa.
“It is a very lucrative business,” Lewis said, adding that the business transferred about $9,000 to a California
bank account every other day. The money was then transferred to Korea, he said.
Although the women took the positions voluntarily, Lewis described the work as a type of “indentured servitude.”