By:Nick Buglione
Xiao Jun Hong, 35, was arrested inside a brothel, at 2568 Hempstead Turnpike, which had been doubling as a message parlor, after she allegedly offered an undercover detective a sexual favor in exchange for money, said Detective Lt. Kevin Smith, a police spokesman.
Hong, of 35th Avenue, was charged with a misdemeanor count of prostitution, Smith said. "The [Town of Hempstead] Building Department was notified, and they were issued numerous summonses," he said.
The brothel was adjacent to the Pastrami Plus deli in a shopping center on the south side of Hempstead Turnpike, said Town Councilman Gary Hudes (R-Levittown), across the street from the old Pep Boys and Staples buildings.
The entrance led downstairs to a basement. The brothel, which had no egress or sprinkler system, contained about a dozen rooms as well as a bathroom, Hudes said. Town Building Department officials issued summonses for illegal use and construction without a permit, because the parlor was undergoing work, Hudes said.
"A stop work order was issued on a heating and air conditioning unit being installed," he said. "The owner of the property was ordered to discontinue any access to the basement area."
East Meadow Civic Association President Robert Zafonte recently learned of the brothel, and urged the police to investigate in a March 29 letter. "The police and the Town of Hempstead did an excellent job in terminating this activity, which has no place in any community," Zafonte said. "We don't want places like this in our community."
For the past several years, Hudes has been keeping his eye on suspect businesses that have opened in the area, alerting police to their presence. "We've developed some techniques that give us an indication that these places are operating," Hudes said. "I personally have gone and looked at the outside, and they all have similar characteristics."
Often operating under the guise of a nail salon or massage parlor, the stores usually have closed vertical blinds, making it impossible for passersby to see inside, and stay open well after normal business hours. It's also common that patrons, visible through surveillance cameras, have to be buzzed in from the inside.
In November 2002, two such businesses were closed on Hempstead Turnpike in East Meadow, one at 2063, inside the Meadowbrook Square shopping center, and the other at 2382, after workers there offered sex to undercover detectives. Only months earlier, in April, Nails by Mina, at 305 Newbridge Road, had been busted for prostitution.
While prostitution was once thought to be uncommon in suburbs like East Meadow, brothels have been turning up more frequently throughout Nassau County in recent years. "They make an arrest and then, you know, it's open again," Zafonte said. "They get out of jail, then they go back and start all over."
Under current Town of Hempstead law, it takes two predicate offenses at an establishment before it can be closed down. Predicate offenses include prostitution and the sale of drugs.
The town's public nuisance law states that if two predicate arrests occur on the same premises during a 12-month period, the courts can force the tenants to vacate the building.
Through diligence, the town has been successful in making sure these establishments don't open a second time after the first arrest, Hudes said. "We're getting them at the very beginning," he said. "These things are not operating for any length of time in the community."
