Woman Shot By Dart Gun

2 Injured Drivers Cited Following Collision

By RICK ROGERS; Times Leader Staff Writer
 Sunday, January 05, 1997 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Page: 1A 





WILKES-BARRE -- Sex, payoffs to police, drug use and more sex. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A day after her sentencing for promoting prostitution, Cindy Clark
complained about the unfairness of her punishment and said sex-for-money
occurs every day at area massage parlors across Luzerne County. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Clark's allegations could not be verified. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A masseuse for six years, Clark, 38, said most massage parlors are fronts
for prostitution operations at which scores of poor and uneducated women
perform sex on hundreds of men a day. She said most of the women were on
welfare and had children. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "In one of the places I worked, there were 13 women who each had 25 to 30
customers a day paying anywhere from $50 to $200 for various sex acts," Clark
said Saturday. She is scheduled to enter the Luzerne County Correctional
Facility on Monday to begin her jail sentence of from two to 23 months. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 During an early December trial, Clark and employee Lorraine Donnelly, 22,
admitted to masturbating clients at the Fantasia Massage Parlor in Hazleton.
But both women said they thought the act was legal. Donnelly was sentenced to
probation. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "Everyone does the same thing I did and worse, yet I'm the only one going
to jail," said Clark, who owned and operated Fantasia Massage Parlor at 100 S.
Gardner Parkway, Hazleton. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Clark said police selectively enforce the law. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The cops were being paid $600 a week to look the other way and not bother
them. They also stayed away because some of the people going to these massage
parlors are very important," said Clark, speaking of the relationship between
one township police force and one massage parlor. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The police used to come in for massages and much more," Clark said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Spokeswomen for two of the massage parlors Clark mentioned denied that sex
takes place in their establishments. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "This is a woman who has just been convicted of a crime. How much
credibility does she have?" said one of the women. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Messages left at the other two massage parlors were not returned. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Clark said she worked as a masseuse for Close Encounters in Wilkes-Barre
for five years before opening Fantasia in February 1996. Fantasia was open for
about a month and a half before closing when Clark and Donnelly were arrested
in early May. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "At the job interview for Close Encounters I was told I would give "hand
releases" to clients as part of massage or be fined $50. They were very
upfront about what they expected you to do," Clark said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 A call to Close Encounters in Wilkes-Barre found that the number had been
disconnected. A woman working for Close Encounters in East Stroudsburg said
their Wilkes-Barre massage parlor is relocating. She did not know where or
when it would reopen and had no comment on Clark's allegations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Police charged three female Close Encounters employees with prostitution in
1984. The women pleaded guilty and were accepted into the Accelerated
Rehabilitative Dispositional Program. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Clark identified a member of the news media, a well-known doctor with
political ties and a former member of a local city government as being
frequent visitors to Close Encounters. She said she had first-hand experience
that these men paid for sex at Close Encounters. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 None of the men could be contacted on Saturday. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 In addition to hand releases, Clark said Close Encounters masseuses offered
body-to-body massages, mutual massages, breast releases, oral sex and sexual
intercourse. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Clark said Close Encounters fined women for infractions of business
protocol. She said women who refused to masturbate a client were fined $50 and
$2,000 fines were levied against women who did not show up for a weekend
shift. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 While working at Close Encounters, located on 726 Wilkes-Barre Blvd., Clark
said drugs, specifically cocaine, were often consumed there and that women
workers often performed sex acts in exchange for drugs. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 "The place was open 24 hours a day and drug dealers were there all the
time. I would see them snorting cocaine and the girls would have sex for
drugs. It was a regular thing," Clark said. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Again, Clark could offer no proof of her accusations. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 During her trial in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas, Clark said former
Hazleton zoning and code enforcement officer James Burke suggested that Clark
open a massage parlor and helped her apply for the needed permits. She said
Burke told her that masturbating a man, called a "hand release" was legal. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Clark said Burke was a customer of hers for the five years she worked at
Close Encounters and later when she opened Fantasia. She said that she
masturbated him for money on "numerous occasions". &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Burke has vigorously denied Clark's allegations and wrote a letter to a
county newspaper declaring himself innocent of any wrongdoing. &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Cindy Clark &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; 
 Sentenced on prostitution charge &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;

Sex Common At Parlors, Says Masseuse 
Sex-for-money Occurs 
Frequently At County 
Massage Parlors And Cops 
Are Paid To Look Away, 
Says Woman Sentenced For 
Promoting Prostitution

Sex Common At Parlors, Says Masseuse Sex-for-money Occurs Frequently At County Massage Parlors And Cops Are Paid To Look Away, Says Woman Sentenced For Promoting Prostitution