Rochester police bust prostitution operation at local ‘health studio’

ROCHESTER — Three people were recently arrested in connection to a new business that Rochester police are saying was being used as a prostitution operation.

Police first received complaints in September about suspected prostitution activities at Green Rose Health Studio, on Oakwood Drive in Rochester. The business was incorporated in October 2023, according to the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs.

“We had a couple of complaints from business owners that noticed a bit of high pedestrian activity at the business during long hours of the day,” Rouhib said. “Usually, businesses are closed by 6 p.m., but there was a lot of pedestrian activity at that building late at night and throughout the day — predominantly males going inside the business, staying for short periods of time.”

After conducting surveillance, including the use of an undercover Rochester police officer, Rochester Police Chief George Rouhib said, police determined that the location was in fact being used for prostitution.

“We sent an undercover officer in there and we knew for a fact, based on the activity that was going on, that it was a prostitution place. … They offered him sexual services for different prices, and he declined, saying he just wanted a massage, and they basically asked him to leave,” Rouhib explained.

Police returned to Green Rose Health Studio with a search warrant April 2 and arrested two women in their 40s and a man in his 60s.

“These women wouldn’t really say anything to us. They were in their 40s and there was a language barrier. The refrigerator was loaded with food, and we believe they may have been living there at some point … but based on running their names and things like that, there was no indication that they were being forced to do anything,” said Rouhib.

All three arrestees were cited and released. Police said there is no indication that human trafficking was involved and noted there were no immigration violations.

Green Rose Health Studio, which is within an office complex, was evicted by the building owner.

Rouhib said Livonia police shut down a similar business in their community — owned by the same business owner as Green Rose Health Studio — that was also being used for prostitution. 

“The same owner had a business in Livonia, and they executed a search warrant on that business last year in September of 2023, and there was prostitution going on at that business. The thing is, they keep switching names on the ownership, so you never really know who owns the place,” Rouhib said. “The unfortunate thing is they are just going to find another place. They are probably back in business somewhere else … but they moved out of Rochester. That was the goal — to shut it down.”