Last week Statesboro City Council, by a 3-2 vote including the mayor’s tiebreaker, extended a previous two-week suspension of Lisa’s Therapeutic Massage’s massage-parlor license. Now the suspension is expected to remain in effect until a misdemeanor prostitution-related charge against the business’ owner is decided in court.

Chunying Hou, 59, of Statesboro, was arrested by Statesboro Police Department officers Nov. 15, 2024, on a single count of keeping a place of prostitution, after they arrested her former employee Jiaxiang Li, 59, of Ridgeland, South Carolina, charging Li alone with a single count of masturbation for pay, also a misdemeanor.

This followed an undercover sting, reportedly conducted by the SPD’s Impact Team at the business the previous day. The separate misdemeanor criminal cases against Hou and Li are pending in Bulloch County State Court, where both women have entered not-guilty pleas.

After the city attorney issued a “notice of intention to revoke” the license, City Council held a hearing as part of its Feb. 4 meeting, where Mayor Jonathan McCollar explained that he and the council members were to act “as a quasi-judicial body to determine if the massage parlor license should be revoked.”

After hearing from SPD Capt. Jared Akins about the police investigation and from Hou’s attorney, Michael Classens, on her behalf, the council members, all present at that meeting, voted 3-2 to suspend the license two weeks, until the Feb. 18 meeting, for a further decision. That was on a motion from Councilman John Riggs, who said he had questions he wanted to write out and have answered by the police or attorneys.

But at the Feb. 18 meeting, with Councilwoman Ginny Hendley absent, the council had just four members present, resulting in the possibility of a tie. After McCollar opened the discussion by noting that Riggs had “maybe a few other questions,” Riggs didn’t say what the questions were but said he still wouldn’t be able to get the answers that night.

“So I’m suggesting suspension until the next meeting,” Riggs said, adding that then – after another two weeks – he should know exactly what he needed to know about the suspension policy.

Hou’s attorney speaks

When Classens walked toward the public microphone, the mayor said this was a council discussion time only.

“I expect to have an opportunity to be heard on Ms. Hou’s behalf,” Classens asserted, and Councilwoman Shari Barr said she wanted to hear from him.

McCollar initially said Classens had three minutes to speak, as this was an agenda item for a motion and not a further hearing. But Classens said he understood it to be a continuation of the hearing from the previous meeting and objected that the city code did not set a time limit for remarks from business owners.

He spoke considerably longer than three minutes, first noting that Akins at the previous meeting had referred to what Classens called “unofficial, unknown, no-reports-made complaints” from previous years. The only citizen complaint report about Lisa’s Therapeutic Massage had been from August 2023 before Hou purchased the business later that year, Classens asserted again.

When police launched their sting operation in Nov. 14, 2024, the undercover officer went in asking for “Lulu,” a woman who had left the business under the previous ownership and started he own massage business elsewhere in Statesboro, according to Hou’s attorney. He again asserted that Hou had been “absolutely shocked and surprised” when told the next day of what Li allegedly did, and had fired her immediately. Li, he said, remains a licensed masseuse working at another massage business.

“In the Code of Ordinances – this is an interesting distinction – the massagist … may not have her license interfered with until after she is convicted. That’s in 18-1-42,” Classens said. “The employer, who clearly knew nothing about this and the instant it was brought to her attention fired this employee, is being punished for something she didn’t know anything at all about.”

These were statements from her lawyer in the city licensing matter, and no sworn testimony was part of either last week’s meeting or the previous hearing. 

Two tiebreaker votes

Last week, the opinions of the four council members present split between those proposing to suspend Hou’s license for two more weeks, until the next council meeting and those who would suspend it indefinitely until the court has a verdict in the criminal case. This split caused McCollar to use his mayoral tiebreaker vote twice.

First, Riggs offered a motion to extend the license suspension until the next meeting, and Barr seconded. But Councilwoman Paulette Chavers and Councilwoman Tangie Johnson voted “no,” and McCollar broke the tie with a “no” vote.

Then Chavers made a motion to suspend the license while awaiting a court decision.

“I’m not a judge,” Chavers said. “I’m not here to find anybody innocent or guilty. My suggestion was to let this play out in court. … My motion is to suspend the license until it plays out in court.”

Johnson seconded that motion. Riggs and Barr, who said she was concerned that a court decision could be six months to a year away, voted “no.” Then McCollar broke the tie with a “yes” vote.

Phoned Monday, Classens said it could be possible to request that the county Superior Court review a City Council decision of this kind but that it is not an automatic appeal. Hou, he said, has not made a decision yet on whether to take further action. Classens also noted that he is not her defense attorney for the criminal case in State Court. case.

“Another lawyer is doing that, so I can’t give you any update on that,” Classens said. “My hope is that that will be resolved very soon. That would be very unusual, but these are unusual circumstances.”