MONROE, N.C. -- A Monroe massage parlor has been shut down after a three-month undercover investigation. Police said they arrested the owner and two employees on sex charges.

The owner of the Island Day Spa, on Highway 74, Son Jarkowski, was charged with human trafficking and maintaining a place of prostitution. Employee Min Ye was charged with solicitation. Another employee, Dan Kim, was charged with two counts of indecent exposure.

All the crimes shocked Mark Binks, whose family shopped at the grocery store in the same shopping center as the spa.

“It’s hard to believe something like this would be going on in this area,” Binks said. “It’s too rural, you know, nothing happens here."

Monroe police said the arrests were the result of an undercover investigation that began back in April. Sgt. T.J. Goforth said that’s when officers received a tip that the spa was a front for prostitution.

“It was a massage parlor, they were not permitted to be doing massages through the city or state,” Goforth said. “They were massaging more than they were supposed to.”

The Monroe city attorney shut the business down Saturday night.

Binks said such a business like this one only brings more bad things to the area.

“Situations like that bring a lot of other things besides prostitution, drugs and robberies, guns, All kinds of stuff come around,” Binks said.

Police said several male customers arrived after the arrests were made. Officers said customers were questioned, but none were arrested.