12 August 2022

FIXING A PROBLEM: Do Like Nevada... Legalize it!

When Nevada became a state in 1864 "the oldest profession the world was an industry.."

DID YOU KNOW DYK?? The statehood of Nevada was pushed in order to ensure electoral votes for the re-election of the Civil War President, Abraham Lincoln

FACTOID 1: A throwback to the state's days as a Wild West mining territory, brothels were illegal but tolerated in some areas until Nevada legalized them in 1971. They're only allowed to operate in counties with populations of less than 700,000 people.

FACTOID 2; Nevada is the only U.S. state where prostitution is legally permitted in some form. Prostitution is legal in 10 of Nevada's 16 counties, although only six allow it in every municipality. Seven counties have at least one active brothel, which mainly operate in isolated, rural areas.

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AZ massage board failed to investigate prostitution complaints for more than 2 years

By: Jim Small - August 11, 2022 2:22 pm

The state board that regulates massage therapists put the public at risk by failing to investigate complaints, including waiting more than 800 days to take action against three therapists accused of prostitution, according to a new state audit.

And the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy ignored seven prostitution complaints lodged in January 2020 until state auditors asked in February 2022 why no investigations had been conducted, according to a report from the Arizona Auditor General’s Office issued Wednesday.

Not only did the board not take any action against the licensed therapists that were accused of prosecution, it renewed the licenses of four of the seven massage therapists.

“By not investigating and resolving all complaints that it receives and doing so in a timely manner, the Board has failed to fulfill its statutory responsibility by allowing unfit licensees or unlicensed individuals to continue practicing massage therapy, and thus placing public safety at risk,” state auditors wrote.

When auditors raised the complaints with the board, its staff reported that three of the complaints had been administratively closed because the therapists’ licenses had expired. It wasn’t until March 2022 — some six months after an Arizona Republic investigation found the board was turning a blind eye to massage therapists accused of sexual abuse — that the board took action against the remaining four licensess. Three were immediately suspended that month; two months later, in May, the board revoked one license and accepted the surrender of a license from another accused therapist.

It’s unclear what has happened to the other two licensees, and auditors noted that their cases were unresolved as of May 2022. The audit also found that the board was breaking state law by failing to provide information on pending complaints and dismissed complaints on its website, and it failed to provide required information when auditors anonymously emailed the board for records on specific therapists.

The board had posted disciplinary actions on its website, but removed them in November 2021 after auditors flagged 111 actions that were older than the five years that state law requires they be posted.

“Subsequently, Board staff removed all copies of disciplinary and nondisciplinary actions/orders from its website and reported that it would review them and post on its website only those that fell within the 5-year statutory time frame,” auditors wrote. “However, as of June 2022, it had not done so, nor had it made available on its website copies of applicable actions/orders issued since December 2021.”

State auditors also faulted the board for not publishing its telephone number on its website, and instead directing the public to only contact the office by email.

When auditors used that email address to anonymously request complaint history information for three difference massage therapists, incomplete information was provided. In two cases, board staff directed auditors to the website, where the requested information was not published. In the third, the board failed to provide information about a pending complaint against a therapist. It also didn’t provide basic information, like the therapist’s license number.

In response to the audit’s findings, Massage Board Executive Director Tom Augherton wrote that the board intends to comply with all of the audit’s recommendations.

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Jim Small

Jim Small is a native Arizonan and has covered state government, policy and politics since 2004, with a focus on investigative and in-depth policy reporting, first as a reporter for the Arizona Capitol Times, then as editor of the paper and its prestigious sister publications, the Yellow Sheet Report and Arizona Legislative Report. Under his guidance, the Capitol Times won numerous state, regional and national awards for its accountability journalism and probing investigations into state government operations.