Of all the things you’d expect to find inside a massage parlor, a giant teddy bear full of cash is likely at the bottom of the list. The township of Edison in New Jersey, however, has that specific (and weird) cash stash high on the list after local police uncovered more than $600,000 cash stored inside a giant teddy bear, among other assets.
The incident and the raid happened back on May 8 in the Bliss Spa massage parlor located on Woodbridge Avenue, Edison. 47-year-old Daniela Diienno was the owner of the massage parlor. The police didn’t just stumble upon the bloated money stash, however, as they’ve been conducting an undercover operation on the massage parlor for over a year.
Authorities have long suspected Diienno’s enterprise to be a front for certain crimes, such as prostitution. During the raid, the police found and seized $600,000 in cash sewn inside the Bliss Spa’s giant teddy bear– the biggest haul they uncovered during the raid. Along with the teddy bear and cash, the police also seized a Tesla Model Y and a couple of luxury wristwatches.
Diienno’s account was also seized, resulting in a total asset seizure of $754,373, much of which was stored in the giant teddy bear. Meanwhile, four other women were also arrested along with Dienno.
“The amount of cash seized and the elaborate concealment methods used show just how sophisticated and profitable these illegal operations can be,” according to Edison Police Chief Thomas Bryan, transcript courtesy of SI Live.
Diienno was thus charged with first-degree money laundering, second-degree promoting organized street crime, third-degree promoting prostitution, and fourth-degree maintaining a house of prostitution and is being held at the Middlesex County Jail while she awaits a hearing.
No Happy Ending for the Massage Parlor
The Edison Police is notably proud of their successful bust, so much so that New Jersey Mayor Sam Joshi considered their crackdown a statewide model to be a standard in confronting these underground operations. To date, the Edison Police have closed 19 spas and massage parlors similar to Diienno’s operation.
Meanwhile, Diienno’s Bliss Spa has been expectedly closed down and slapped with multiple health code violations. Edison Police stated that they have been hunting down similar operations since 2022, as massage parlors and spas not only serve as cover for prostitution, but also for narcotics and other street crimes.
Despite the rather successful bust, many opinionated people online still made fun of the Edison Police and the playful nature of how the cash was stored. Turning a giant New Jersey teddy bear into a safe might have been clever in movies and crime novels, but cold, hard cash isn’t really as huggable as polyester fiber.
“Dios mio, money in the bear…,” recalls Redditor and American Dad fan, WebMD_PhD
“That bear probably had a million dollars before the cops found it,” suggested Redditor Awkward_Bison_267
“One of my secret fantasies is to clean out a drug den or a sex shop right before a raid so that nobody is the wiser about where the money went,” daydreams Redditor msnmck
