An 81-year-old man has been fined S$18,000 on July 21 for running a massage parlour without a license, and failing to stop his employee from providing sexual services.

Too Seng San pleaded guilty to a charge of operating Tai Kang Yang Seng TCM Therapy, without a valid license on April 17, 2020,  and a second charge of failing to ensure that his employee did not provide sexual services.

Two other charges of operating his business, located at Block 201 on Hougang Street 21, during the Circuit Breaker period were also taken into consideration.

Went down to his shop regularly to collect profits

The court heard that Too was the sole owner of the business and employed four female Chinese nationals at his shop, aged 33 to 42. He also went down to the shop regularly to collect profits.

On April 17, 2020, a 32-year-old man, Samuel Cheow, entered Tai Kang Yang Seng TCM Therapy through the back gate and asked if massage services were available, according to court documents seen by Mothership.

One of the employees replied in the affirmative and led Cheow to a shower on the first floor.

Afterwards, Cheow headed to a private massage room where he was massaged by the employee. She then offered him masturbatory services for S$100 to which Seow agreed.

Police officers arrived shortly afterwards, in which they found three rooms, each with a massage bed and draw curtains installed.

The police had received a call at 12.47pm from an unidentified female who said:

"This is my 2nd and 3rd time calling already. I believed that this massage parlour is operating despite this circuit breaker period. I saw few customer been coming in and out of the shop through the rear entrance. Can send police now."

Not his first time running an illegal massage parlour with sexual services

The prosecution further noted that Too was liable for enhanced punishment given that he been fined S$10,000 in July 2019 for running another illegal massage parlour.

At that time, he ran Monte Aesthetics at 450 Sims Avenue, with a masseuse offering S$80 for masturbation services to a customer.

During mitigation, Too's counsel said that a jail term would be "unfairly harsh" given his age.

Under the Massage Establishments Act, Too could have been imprisoned for up to five years, fined up to S$20,000, or been subjected to both, as a repeat offender, for providing massage services without a license.

As for failing to ensure his employees did not provide sexual services, he could have been fined a maximum of S$5,000.

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