Court records: House of prostitution encouraged tips, had door fee
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — At the Just Divine massage parlor north of Grand Rapids, an all-male clientele were assessed a door fee of either $50 or $80, with “tips encouraged for the service providers,” court records show.
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But it wasn’t just back rubs being offered at the Plainfield Township firm. Investigators say illegal sex acts took place and business owner Edith Amanda Corbett “pandered workers into prostitution,” court records show.
On Monday, the 44-year-old woman was arraigned in 63rd District Court on four felony charges, including prostitution/pandering and keeping a house of prostitution. Three of the charges are 20-year felonies.
Corbett “pandered workers into prostitution by offering training sessions which provided education on how to perform commercial sex acts on male clients,” court records show.
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Judge Sara Smolenski set bond at $100,000. Corbett, who lists a home address in Allegan County, remained in the Kent County Jail as of Monday afternoon. A probable cause conference has been set for next week.
The business operated inside a commercial building on Plainfield Avenue near Coit Avenue. It came under scrutiny last summer based on multiple social media posts on a platform where the commercial sex trade industry was discussed, court records show.
“This includes detailed discussions and reviews pertaining to escorts, massage parlors, strip clubs and street-based sex work,” a member of the Kent County Sheriff’s Office Human Trafficking Task Force wrote in a probable cause affidavit.
Users of the forum commented multiple times on a provider named ‘Milan,’ that works at Just Divine. Detectives traced it to the Plainfield Avenue business and began surveillance, records show.
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“Probable cause was established that Edith Corbett is maintaining and operating a house of ill-fame by owning and operating a massage parlor that offers illegal sex acts,” court records show.
Corbett “disclosed she does word-of-mouth marketing and engagement with reviews on the aforementioned forum platform for advertising of her business,” according to the probable cause affidavit.
Kent County investigators say the business was one of the highest attended massage parlors in Kent County with mostly male customers traveling from around Michigan seeking out its services.
The business was licensed in the State of Michigan, however no licensed massage therapists were employed, a release from the sheriff’s office says.
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