An Illinois State Police officer who jointly owned a Wabash Avenue building with a Springfield man charged with using the site for sex trafficking and prostitution didn't know anything illegal might be going on there, according to his attorney.
"He denies any wrongdoing," Springfield lawyer Scott Sabin said on behalf of state trooper Nathan Shanks. "He owns a legal and clean and appropriate real-estate business on his own with his wife."
Shanks hasn't been charged with any crimes in a local and federal investigation into Asian massage parlors in the Springfield area. But Shanks' name has come up in court documents in the case against Springfield resident Gregory Fraase.
Fraase's attorneys filed a motion March 22 asking a federal judge to allow Fraase to transfer his part-ownership of a vacant office building at 2040 Timberbrooke Drive to Shanks, the other co-owner. The motion said Fraase, 60, and Shanks, 39, bought the Springfield building at an auction in July 2023.
Magistrate Judge Karen McNaught hasn't ruled on the request and asked Fraase's lawyers to submit more information about the proposed transaction before she decides. The 28-day deadline McNaught set for Fraase providing more information recently passed with nothing filed, and the Fraase lawyer who filed the initial request wouldn't comment.
The Timberbrooke Drive building isn't alleged to have been involved in any illegal activities. However, a building on Wabash Avenue that Shanks previously co-owned with Fraase is alleged by the FBI to have been one of multiple "houses of prostitution" Fraase and other business associates were operating in the Springfield area.
Shanks and GLF Group LLC, a business for which Fraase is registered as a manager in state records, bought the building at 1560 Wabash Ave. from the previous owner in February 2020 for $60,000, according to Sangamon County property records.
Shanks transferred his half-ownership of the Wabash Avenue building to the new owners, Seven Carpenters LLC and GLF Group, in June 2021, according to property records. Both Seven Carpenters and GLF Group have financial ties to Fraase, based on state business records.
Sabin said Shanks exited from the Wabash Avenue project because Shanks, who likes to improve properties over a short period and then sell to someone else, learned that he and Fraase had differing goals. Sabin said Fraase apparently wanted to remain involved with the property for a longer period of time.
Fraase represented the new owners in fall 2021 when he obtained zoning approval from the Springfield Planning and Zoning Commission and City Council to use the building for a tattoo shop and "body works spa," according to a city of Springfield legal notice.
Online evidence suggests Jade Spa was operating in the building as a massage parlor before zoning approval was granted and when Shanks was still a part-owner of the property.
Clients' online ratings of the spa date back to February and March of 2020, when one of the customers referred to a cake store operating on the other end of the building. Customer postings in February 2021, April 2021 and in 2022 mentioned specific sexual services.
Sabin said Shanks "absolutely did not know Mr. Fraase was using the spa lease as a front for a place of prostitution."
Fraase and a woman, Jia Liu, were indicted by a federal grand jury March 5 on one count of conspiracy in connection with alleged prostitution at sites advertised as several Asian spas, including Jade Spa.
The time period of the alleged conspiracy cited in the indictment covered July 2020 to February 2024.
Fraase, who has pleaded not guilty, was arrested and released on his own recognizance while the case proceeds. Liu hasn't been arrested.
A third person, Rao Guangxiang, was charged with conspiracy April 19 in a related case and jailed in advance of a hearing.
Sabin said Shanks dated Fraase's daughter before getting married and "had reason to trust" Fraase. Shanks' wife, Torie Shanks, posted on Facebook that her husband dated Fraase's daughter from 2016 to 2020.
Shanks and Fraase bid on the Timberbrooke property together because Shanks was looking for another investor to spread the overall cost of acquiring it, according to Sabin.
Since July 2023, law enforcement groups have been allowed to use it for free on several occasions for tactical training, Sabin said.
Sabin bristled at online statements by people who said Shanks' police training should have made the trooper suspicious about what was going on at Jade Spa when he was part-owner of the building, as well as Fraase's more recent business dealings.
"Oh please," Sabin said. "He's on the SWAT team. He's trained on tactical firearms. He's not an investigator."
Sabin added that Shanks didn't receive any financial benefit from Jade Spa. Shanks earned $124,000 from his state police job in 2023, according to Illinois state comptroller records.
Sabin said Shanks' reputation among his friends and relatives has been unfairly damaged by his business association with Fraase.
"They judge you by the company you keep," Sabin said. "I don't believe he's done anything inappropriate at all."
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer at Illinois Times. He can be reached at 217-679-7810, [email protected] or twitter.com/DeanOlsenIT.
