A fast-food restaurant. An oxygen-delivery service. A fitness center.
These are the classifications used by owners of three massage parlors in Denver for their applications for business-use permits.
All three were granted, and all were later closed by police as part of a prostitution crackdown.
Now, despite changes made last month by the city to prevent the licensing of massage parlors that might host prostitution, at least one controversial permit slipped through the cracks.
Sam Lopez, who operates the lingerie hair salon, A Little Off the Top in Englewood, applied for a use permit Sept. 23, two weeks after a directive was issued to Denver’s zoning administration and excise and licensing department to do background checks.
Lopez wanted to open a new business at 1562 W. Alameda Ave. in Denver, the same street where two massage parlors recently were closed for alleged prostitution. He was granted a use permit in one day by the city despite writing “Therapeutic Services Massage no topless” to describe his prospective business, Mile High Gentleman’s Club.
It was approved under the category of “Clinic, office, lab, dental.”
Lopez said he was not given a background check, nor was he referred to Denver’s excise and licensing division. He said he had no intention of running a house of prostitution.
“I’m sure some of them are (illegal) but mine is not going to be,” he said. “There is not going to be any hanky-panky.”
Although the directive for background checks was issued Sept. 9, it was not implemented until after a meeting involving city departments on Sept. 28, said Molly Urbina, deputy manager for community planning and development.
“That permit was issued right in the middle of all this, unfortunately,” Urbina said, adding that the zoning employee who issued it “was not paying attention.”
“We’re going to do a better training procedure to make sure people ask questions and pay attention,” she said.
The permit for the Mile High Gentleman’s Club will now be on hold, Urbina said, until the nature of the business can be determined.
After she heard about the situation last week, neighborhood resident Carole Campbell sent two strongly worded letters to Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper, asking him to audit the way permits are issued to any “loophole-business that perpetuates the massage/prostitution trade.
“Please, find a way for the City to begin to operate in a fashion that outsmarts (those) who utilize our own systems against us,” Campbell wrote in an e-mail sent Monday.
She also called a member of the City Council and zoning officials. Late Tuesday, someone from zoning responded, she said, assuring her the permit had been rescinded.
The city and county of Denver revamped the way business permits are issued during an investigation into illegal massage parlors launched six months ago by Denver police.
Raids conducted at 18 businesses resulted in arrests of 35 people and shut down 16 illegal operations.
On Sept. 9, Stephanie O’Malley, director of the Department of Excise and Licensing, sent a letter to the zoning administration that outlined a new process. People applying for zoned-use permits were falsely claiming to be legitimate providers of services such as massage therapy to circumvent more stringent requirements for a massage-parlor license, she said.
“After obtaining zoning use permits … this group of individuals proceeds to open up storefront ‘business’ operations and engage in illicit and illegal activities including prostitution, solicitation for prostitution, and keeping a place of prostitution,” the letter says.
This week, O’Malley told The Denver Post that now, applicants who mention any sort of medical services such as acupuncture or massage therapy must first go to the excise and licensing division for a background check by a Denver police detective.
Staff writer Amy Herdy can be reached at 303-820-1752 or aherdy@denverpost.com.
Staff writer Felisa Cardona can be reached at 303-820-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com.
