Bylaw officers have suspended and revoked the business licence of an adult body rub parlour in east London, Ont., after its owner was convicted of six counts of sexual assault against his employees.
Sweet City made headlines in 2019 when investigators with the London Police Service (LPS) announced there may be additional victims after the massage parlour’s owner Abe Vergara was charged with three counts of sexual assault stemming from incidents reported to have occurred between 2002 and 2006.
In 2021, LPS laid more sexual assault charges against Vergara, this time tied to incidents reported to have occurred inside Sweet City between 2003 and 2004.
On Monday, city officials announced Sweet City had been penalized by bylaw officers following “proactive business licence inspections of adult body rub and live entertainment parlours in London.”
These inspections mainly focus on record-keeping, cleanliness and testing of the panic alarm systems that are required to be in place in body rub parlours in London.
Sweet City received four penalties for non-attendance of an operator on-site and for not producing attendant records. These penalties combine for a total of $3,000 in fines, according to London’s director of municipal compliance Orest Katolyk.
On top of the failed inspection, Katolyk says bylaw officers were also informed on Dec. 16 that Vergara had been convicted of six counts of sexual assault against his employees.
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“We were aware of the charges, but were very recently made aware of the convictions, and as a result, the City has suspended and revoked the business license for Sweet City,” Katolyk said.
Katolyk adds that the move ties into the city’s designation as a safe city for women and girls, a task London committed to under the United Nations Women Safe Cities initiative.
“Obviously, we are not judging who works at these premises, but we want to make sure that these premises are safe both for the employees and the clients,” Katolyk said.
“That’s one of the reasons that we introduced the panic alarms within the rooms of body rub parlours, and to ensure that there’s compliance with the bylaw, we go in with our officers periodically and proactively and test these panic alarms.”
The suspension and revoking of Sweet City’s business licence is effective as of Tuesday.
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