They advertised one thing but apparently delivered something else, according to Lyndhurst Police.
On March 29 the Lyndhurst Police Department, assisted by undercover detectives from the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, conducted two simultaneous investigations focused on two local massage parlors.
Plainclothes cops visited Tranquility Spa, 546 Valley Brook Ave., between Green and Millburn Aves., and First Massage Therapy, 603 Ridge Road, off Kingsland Ave.
At each shop, police said, undercover cops were offered sex in exchange for cash.
At Tranquility Spa, police charged Yun Choi, 48, of Palisades Park, with prostitution. Also, Rano Rakhimova, 25, of Brooklyn, N.Y., and Erika Nazario, 35, of East Hanover, were charged with being unlicensed massage therapists.
And, at First Massage Therapy, police charged Fuzi Hung, 47, of Flushing, N.Y., with prostitution and issued her a summons for a violation of a township ordinance for practicing massage therapy without a license. Cops also charged Meihua Lin, 35, of Flushing, N.Y., with being an unlicensed massage therapist.
All five were released pending a court hearing on April 10.
In other developments logged this past week by Lyndhurst Police:
On the evening of March 26, police investigated the report of a motorist who said that while he was driving along Riverside Ave., someone apparently operating a battery-operated laser pointer shined a red light at his windshield, and, again, after he pulled into a gas station at Riverside and Kingsland Aves. at around 8:30 p.m.
The investigation led officers to a sixth-floor apartment at 601 Riverside Ave. occupied by Javier Cruz, 25, of Lyndhurst.
At first, police said, Cruz denied involvement in the incident but, after officers discovered marijuana in the apartment and charged him with possession of drugs, Cruz changed his story, telling officers that he’d activated the laser diode from his window but didn’t purposely aim the beam at anything but rather, did it randomly.
In addition to the drug violation, police charged Cruz with interfering with traffic and released him on summonses pending a court hearing. Police also confiscated the laser pointer.
One detective estimated that the beam probably traveled between 500 and 600 feet to reach the motorist’s vehicle.
Police said the driver wasn’t harmed but there is always the possibility of someone’s eyesight being affected or being distracted and, therefore, subject to an accident as a result of exposure to the beam.
Although laser pointers are typically used by educators and corporate executives in power point presentations, the equipment is readily available from retailers at relatively low costs and is sometimes used to harm or distract others.
In Feb. 2012 Congress passed a bill prohibiting the aiming of a laser beam at an aircraft or in the flight path of an aircraft and provides for fines of up to $11,000 or imprisonment for up to five years for anyone convicted of the offense.
On March 24, at 1:18 a.m., police stopped Krystina Bijak, 35, of Elmwood Park, after noticing that she was driving a 2004 Honda erratically on Valley Brook Ave., traveling eastbound but crossing into the westbound lane.
After she was pulled over at Ridge Road, Bijak was issued summonses for refusal to submit to a breath test and for DWI. She was released to a responsible party and her vehicle was impounded.
-Ron Leir
