A Brooklyn woman who celebrated her birthday at what was once a notorious “sex spa” in Queens went home with a nasty gift that kept on giving, a lawsuit alleges.
Cleopatra Brown spent her 62nd birthday at Spa Castle in College Point on July 30 with her family, enjoying the 22-pool bathhouse with the not-so-family-friendly reputation.
The celebration was soured within days when the US Navy veteran developed a serious bacterial infection on her right leg and foot, according to the lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court on Aug. 14.
Brown suffered from cellulitis — an infection of the deep layers of skin that causes itching, swelling and pain, she claimed in the filing. Cellulitis occurs when bacteria enters cut, scraped or cracked skin.
She blames the facility for not properly sterilizing its robes and towels, as well as failing to thoroughly clean its locker rooms, floors and pools.
Brown’s infection was caused by the spa, “failing to maintain its business in a reasonably safe manner given the attendant circumstances; in failing to test it’s hot tubs and pools; in improperly testing it’s hot tubs and pools; in failing to keep disinfectant levels at safe range,” the filing states.
The Brownsville resident served in the Navy for six years from 1982 to 1988, was honored in the New York State Senate’s Veterans’ Hall of Fame and is an ordained minister. Her lawyer, Michael B. Palillo, declined to comment on the case. Brown is seeking unspecified damages.
Spa Castle has had a raunchy reputation in the past.
During two visits in 2016, The Post observed a frisky free-for-all – with patrons roaming naked, groping each other and having underwater sex.
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“There is a big problem with customers having sex in the pools, and the management doesn’t know how to handle it,” an anonymous staffer said at the time. Brown’s lawsuit didn’t mention any shenanigans.
The city’s Health Department shut down the spa for about two months in March 2016 after a 6-year-old girl almost drowned when her hair got caught in one of the pools’ filters, saying the facility was “not following safety standards.”
In 2014, an 84-year-old spa-goer was found dead at the bottom of an outdoor hot tub. An autopsy revealed he died of hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
Spa Castle and the city’s Health Department did not return a request for comment.
