On August 3, state police filed charges against 11 men who admitted to buying sex at a Loyalsock County illicit massage business formerly known as Green Spa and Massage. Mark Bletz, 59, Justin Carpenter, 46, Scott Gunter, 55, Mark Harding, 59, Ian Hoffman, 35, Colin Jacobs, 25, Justin Lutz, 49, Lamar Ploppert, 54, Dustin Steele, 30, Robert Streams, 43, and Ryan Williams, 45, were all charged with patronizing a victim of sexual servitude and patronizing prostitutes. All 11 men were released on $50,000 bail.
10 of the 11 men, excluding Carpenter, had preliminary hearings scheduled for August 26. Of the seven men who appeared in court on the 26th, only one declined to waive his preliminary hearing: Colin Jacobs. Jacobs’ defense attorney focused on whether Jacobs should have assumed the woman who allegedly provided commercial sex acts to him was a victim of human trafficking, repeatedly pointing out that she was “middle-aged” as opposed to a young woman who “doesn’t know any better.” The case against Jacobs was set for trial, along with Bletz, Harding, Hoffman, Lutz, and Streams. Ploppert requested a continuance of his preliminary hearing, which was granted. The preliminary hearings for Carpenter, Gunter, Ploppert, Steele, and Williams are scheduled for September 16.
According to law enforcement, the charges are the result of a 6-month ongoing investigation that began in January 2026. The lead investigator, Corporal Jonathan Thompson, reported that each of the 11 men charged was seen leaving Green Spa between mid-April and June 12 – the date the illicit massage business was raided. Upon being questioned by Cpl. Thompson, each defendant allegedly admitted to paying extra cash in exchange for sex acts after getting a massage from a Green Spa and Massage employee.
According to charging documents, Ploppert allegedly paid the standard $70 for a massage, then an additional $20 for manual stimulation of his genitals. Bletz and Streams each allegedly admitted to paying an extra $50 for manual stimulation, and Lutz allegedly paid $60 for manual stimulation. Hoffman and Harding each allegedly told police that they went to Green Spa after reading Google reviews indicating commercial sex acts were offered there; Hoffman paid an additional $100 for manual stimulation to ejaculation, and Harding paid an extra $20 for manual stimulation.
As the CSE Institute previously reported, two women from Flushing, New York were arrested and charged with promoting prostitution after allegedly offering commercial sex acts to an undercover state trooper at Green Spa and Massage on June 12. The case against the women, who have been joined as co-defendants, has been set for trial.
The sex trade relies on supply and demand, so holding sex buyers accountable for the role they play in driving the demand—and sustaining the market—for prostitution is critical for combating commercial sexual exploitation. The CSE Institute advocates for the Equality Model, which consists of four key tenets: (1) decriminalization of people in prostitution, (2) criminalization of sex buyers and facilitators, (3) public education, and (4) holistic exit services for people in prostitution. Lycoming County law enforcement has set a great example for law enforcement across the Commonwealth through their investigation and subsequent arrests of these alleged sex buyers, and the CSE Institute applauds their commitment to combating sex trafficking in Lycoming County.
While the CSE Institute commends Lycoming County law enforcement for holding the 11 alleged sex buyers in this case accountable, we are disappointed in their choice to arrest the two women in prostitution at Green Spa and Massage and move forward with their joint case. The women were charged with promoting prostitution, while all 11 men were charged with patronizing a victim of sexual servitude; these charges are inherently in conflict with one another. The charges against the men effectively recognize that the women in prostitution at Green Spa were victims of sex trafficking, but the female co-defendants are nonetheless being criminalized as a direct result of their victimization.
The line between victim and offender is often blurred in sex trafficking situations—a phenomenon known as victim-offender overlap—due to coercion, survival, and trauma rather than voluntary criminality. Understanding the complexity of forced criminality is important because criminalization perpetuates harm and can act as a barrier to a survivor’s recovery. By continuing to pursue the cases against the female co-defendants, the Lycoming County District Attorney’s Office is perpetrating their revictimization at the hands of the criminal justice system. These actions will have profound consequences for the women themselves and for broader anti-trafficking efforts.
Ultimately, the CSE Institute encourages Lycoming County law enforcement to continue aiming their efforts at sex buyers. However, we also hope that law enforcement, particularly the Lycoming County DA’s Office, will decide to protect and support survivors, rather than criminalizing them for their victimization.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates on this matter.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.