Dozens of women sexually assaulted by massage therapist in FL - NBC2 News

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A month-long investigation by the NBC2 Investigators uncovered a growing trend in Florida of male massage therapists sexually assaulting their female clients.

After uncovering three different allegations of sexual assault by a licensed massage therapist in Southwest Florida in 2017, we found dozens of similar criminal and civil cases.

The massage therapists bounce from job to job to outrun the allegation, and it takes the licensing agency months, or longer, before disciplining or suspending the accused therapists.

The problem spans Florida

This issue isn't contained in Southwest Florida. It's spread across the Sunshine State.

One woman said she was sexually assaulted by a massage therapist at Massage Envy in Wellington, Florida. She did not want to be identified for fear it could affect her successful business career.

“You never expect to happen what happened," she said. "I mean you put your full trust in that person."

She said she regularly goes for massages and even has an account at Massage Envy but on that day she had a new therapist, Ruben Saenz.

“In this particular case he went down my sternum, between my breasts and then cupped my breast,” she said. “Then he moved his hand and his thumb and forefinger essentially over my nipples.

“Afterwards I wasn't really sure, did this just happen?”

The Department of Health restricted Saenz license, but he's still allowed to practice on men.

Adam Horowitz is the woman's attorney.

“There are no official statistics on how often this happens but anecdotally, by watching the news, by keeping up with police reports we’re seeing that these incidents are happening in large numbers that would shock a lot of people,” Horowitz said.

He’s filed dozens of lawsuits against massage companies and therapists accused of sexually assaulting their clients.

“I came to find out that the problem was a lot bigger than I originally thought," the attorney said. "This was an epidemic within the massage industry."

In Southwest Florida, there are more than 12 cases accusing massage therapists of sexually assaulting female clients in a decade.

The Florida Department of Health is responsible for investigating allegations. The Board of Massage Therapy then implements discipline ranging from fines to license revoking.

“It takes months for them to contact the victim, months for them to contact the employer, months for them to contact the massage therapist,” Horowitz said.

Bouncing from job to job

Ceasar Guerrero, in Orlando area, sexually assaulted someone at one location and was fired. He then sexually assaulted someone at a different location and was again fired.

"[The allegations] finally caught up with him and he's now facing felony charges in Orlando," said Horowitz.

The Florida Board of Massage Therapy would not answer questions on why it took so long to investigate Guerrero.

The Department of Health responded to the same question, saying that the department essentially has to wait for the Board of Massage Therapy to meet before they can officially file an administrative complaint.

“The Department and PSU (Prosecution Services Unit) do not have the unilateral authority to file Administrative Complaints, which are the formal charging documents, against a licensee,” the spokesperson said.

But Horowitz said the issue lies with the length of the DOH investigations.

“If there's strong evidence that a massage therapist has committed sexual misconduct there should be no reason to wait years to restrict his license,” Horowitz said.

But the responsibility doesn't fall solely on the Department of Health. The woman we talked to earlier said it took Massage Ency more than a month to call her back. She said their response was humiliating.

“I shared with him what had happened, and his response to me was ‘Well I’ll give you a couple of massages free,’ and I was like no! That does not justify what happened!” she said.

Businesses not taking the assaults seriously

Horowitz said the companies involved don’t seem to take assault incidents seriously in many instances.

“I almost never see spas like Massage Envy tell clients you should report this to law enforcement,” Horowitz said. He said they often fail to report the incident to the Department of Health too.

Massage Ency sent the following email statement:

"Massage Envy Franchising requires its franchisees to conduct a fair, thorough, and objective investigation of any allegation of inappropriate conduct. Should a therapist engage in inappropriate conduct, the franchisee is required to terminate the therapist, and the therapist is ineligible for hire at any Massage Envy franchised location nationwide."
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At the time of the incident at the Wellington Massage Envy, the victim said she was too mortified to confront her assaulter, but she said women everywhere need to speak up.

“You know I think that the situation is very shocking. It’s not something you expect because you do trust the person you're going in to seem,” she said “No one should be scared of talking. Nobody.”

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