East Cobb massage business suspended for nine months - East Cobb News

[Wendy Parker]

An East Cobb massage business that has been closed since August in the wake of allegations of improper operations will remain closed for another nine months.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners last Tuesday voted 5-0 to extend the suspension of the business license of Top Massage (2200 Roswell Road, Suite 150) until August 2025.

Like another East Cobb massage business whose license was revoked in July, Top Massage is accused by the Cobb Community Development Agency’s Business License Division of not having properly licensed therapists on staff or premises (list of alleged violations).

The business license officials and Cobb Police visited Top Massage on April 10 and found two employees working there—one of them performing a message—who had health spa permits but not the required state massage therapist license.

There also wasn’t a state licensed therapist at the business at the time, according to the business license division.

Elisia Webb, the head of the business license division, said there wasn’t a record of treatments at Top Massage as is required, nor was there a list of employees or proof of certification.

Top Massage, she said, was “not licensed or permitted to perform massages in any shape, form or fashion.”

According to testimony at the hearing, the only licensed therapist who had been at the business has returned to China.

Michael Faniletti, the attorney for Top Massage owner Zhe Han, stated that his client voluntarily closed the business when he realized the situation, and has filed a new application for a health spa with a licensed therapist he’s planned to hire.

“All these things have been corrected,” Falinetti told commissioners. A permanent revocation, he added, “would be a harsh penalty. He [Zhe] missed some things and he can see that, but a 90-day voluntary suspension should be considered.”

Sam Hensley, attorney for the business license division, said that “technically, there is no license now.” The Board of License Review had recommended a 60-day suspension that Zhe appealed.

Faniletti said a state-approved licensee “is waiting in the wings” and that his client “would open only with that new licensee.”

Zhe told commissioners he signed a five-year lease on the space where the business is located, and said he has corrected mistakes.

But Commissioner JoAnn Birrell wasn’t sympathetic in making a motion to extend the suspension for a full year—the same duration as Asian Wellness Massage on Canton Road in July.

“These cases we don’t take lightly,” she said. “There’s no excuse not to know the law and our code.”

She said that “there are too many violations here” and wondered how the mistakes have been corrected “if you’ve been closed.”

Under the terms of the decision, Top Massage would be allowed to reapply for a business license in August 2025.

Cobb is currently observing a moratorium on issuing new health spa licenses, following requests from county officials to review those regulations. That moratorium continues through the end of the year.

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