Multiple arrests at massage business upsets neighbors

Two women arrested at Jas Spa on North Side

SAN ANTONIO – Neighbors are voicing their concerns after two undercover operations resulted in two arrests at a North Side massage business.

Jas Spa is located at the corner of Blanco Road and Cadillac Drive.

“This is so out of place,” said Carlos Cordova, president of the Cadillac Drive Neighborhood Association. “This is so different from anything else we have around here and frankly it makes people nervous.”

Cordova says he has grown even more apprehensive about the business after the most recent arrest at the location.

On March 3, an undercover SAPD operation led to the arrest of Yifang Zhao.

During a massage, she offered to perform a sex act for a fee, according to a police report.

Police arrested Shuyun Li on Jan. 26 at Jas Spa, also for allegedly offering a sex act for money.

“I was so scared that we had that kind of a neighbor,” said D’mitri Kosub. “We have a religious institutions right next door. We have a preschool and the members of that congregation walk and forth with their children to services right by this business.”

Jas Spa has advertised on backpage.com, a site "frequently used by johns and prostitutes,” according to a police report.

Neighbors have complained to the office of District 9 City Councilman Joe Krier who has met with San Antonio police about the issue.

“I’m hopeful that if the police department stays on top of this long enough, whoever owns the place will close and move on,” said Krier.

“It brings an element into the neighborhood, and it brings behavior in the neighborhood that folks don’t want,” Kosub said.

Jas Spa is licensed through the state as a massage therapy business.

According to SAPD, massage parlors that are the site of illegal activity can be shut down if several cases have been built against them.

The city can sue a business owner and a business can be shut down for up to a year.

“They need to be closed. They need to move away from here,” said Cordova.


About the Author:

Myra Arthur is passionate about San Antonio and sharing its stories. She graduated high school in the Alamo City and always wanted to anchor and report in her hometown. Myra anchors KSAT News at 6:00 p.m. and hosts and reports for the streaming show, KSAT Explains. She joined KSAT in 2012 after anchoring and reporting in Waco and Corpus Christi.