Dark curtains drawn tight, doors locked at all hours, surveillance cameras inside the building and unusual business hours — these are all warning signs that a massage parlor may be a front for something more than therapeutic services.
The New Hampshire Department of Justice said it has shut down nearly half of the illicit massage parlors it has identified across the state since launching a targeted enforcement campaign last November in collaboration with local and federal agencies.
These businesses were believed to be involved in human trafficking and sexual exploitation — issues Assistant Attorney General Alexander Kellermann said are prevalent in both large and small communities.
“It’s, unfortunately, a pervasive problem,” said Kellermann. “These are not legitimate massage parlors. These are hubs for trafficking operations. They’re exploiting women and coercing them to perform sexual acts against their will, and there’s no place for that in the state of New Hampshire.”
Authorities have closed at least 15 such businesses in Derry, Londonderry, Hudson, Merrimack, Manchester, Dover, Salem and Somersworth, according to the Department of Justice.
In Derry, six businesses exploiting women have been shut down as part of the enforcement efforts, authorities said.
The state and its partners are continuing their investigation and enforcement effort to identify and shut down other illicit massage businesses in the state, including those that have already been identified and those that haven’t.
Many of these illicit businesses that engage in the sexual exploitation of women specifically target immigrants, luring them to the United States with false promises of employment and a better life.
These women often live inside the businesses, where traffickers hold their immigration documents, according to Kellermann.
They are frequently coerced, forced to perform sexual acts and made to work extremely long hours.
“They’re in a situation here where they’re providing labor and they’re not receiving the appropriate compensation under state law, which is, in and of itself, a violation beyond the trafficking itself,” said Kellermann.
He added that the state is not going after women who are victims of human trafficking and is mindful of the impact it has on them.
The attorney general’s office is not aware of any involvement by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement as part of this initiative.
Data on human trafficking is often incomplete because many cases go unreported and, in some instances, victims do not realize they are being trafficked.
Still, available data paints a troubling picture.
The state had 118 reported trafficking cases in the state in 2024, according to the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. Of those, 105 involved sex trafficking and 13 were related to labor trafficking.
In 2023, 95 total cases were reported, with 87 tied to sex trafficking.
Those seeking out illicit massage parlors are mostly men, the attorney general’s office said.
Meg Chant, the program director for the coalition against domestic and sexual violence, explained that one of the biggest obstacles to identifying trafficking is the public’s misunderstanding of what the trafficking of women, men and children actually looks like.
“A lot of people think, ‘I haven’t been kidnapped, I haven’t been chained up, so this isn’t trafficking.’ But it’s far more quotidian than people realize,” Chant said.
Chant explained that human trafficking is the “exploitation of one person by another for commercial gain using force, fraud or coercion.”
“If someone is unable to leave a situation where they are — where there are services, whether that’s labor or sex, being used for commercial benefit, then that’s trafficking,” said Chant.
Law enforcement and organizations like The Network, a national anti-trafficking nonprofit, employ various strategies to dismantle these organized operations.
In New Hampshire, authorities are also collaborating with landlords to identify suspicious tenants and terminate leases when needed through the Landlord Engagement Program.
“A lot of these property owners that we are engaging with and working with, many of them don’t want these types of businesses operating on their property, but they don’t know,” said Kellermann. “Part of these efforts are to make sure landlords are vetting their tenants properly and ensuring that they don’t get into a situation where they have a long-term lease with a tenant that may be engaging in illicit conduct.”
Kellermann made clear that while the state does not intend to punish landlords who unknowingly rent to illicit businesses, those who turn a blind eye can be prosecuted.
The attorney general’s office has also been working with the coalition to assist women trafficked at massage parlors in the state, many of whom have experienced physical and mental trauma as a result.
This includes providing services or referrals for victims’ needs, including medical care, housing, legal advocacy and emotional support for coping with their traumatic experiences.
“There’s a lot of grooming that happens by traffickers as well to make people feel guilty for what they’ve experienced. They also are likely being told by someone who is trafficking them that it’s their fault, or that they’re making these choices or that there is not a better option for them,” Chant said. “It is a huge project for those victims as they move forward towards safety and stability.”
This year, the state legislature made progress on human trafficking prevention with House Bill 405, which Gov. Kelly Ayotte signed into law in early June, establishing a commission to further study human trafficking within illicit massage businesses in the state.
The bill also increased the penalty for knowingly allowing a place under one’s control to be used for prostitution, raising the severity of the crime from a misdemeanor to a Class B felony.
If the offense involves a person under the age of 18, it is elevated to a Class A felony.
“We also want to make clear that we’re focusing on the traffickers, but we’re also focusing on the buyers,” said Kellermann. “We want to make clear that they are part of the problem, and if they continue to purchase sex from these illicit massage parlors, they will be held accountable.”
New Hampshire domestic violence and sexual assault hotline: Call 24/7 at (866) 644-3574.
NH DOJ Anti-Trafficking Hotline: Report suspicious activity or request support at 603-271-9703.
Sruthi Gopalakrishnan can be reached at sgopalakrishnan@cmonitor.com
