More Than 180 Women Have Reported Sexual Assaults At Massage Envy

Generally not a story I would track, but instinct tells me this is going to be much bigger than this one story.  Especially when one gets this response, "'I was following the policy of Massage Envy,' the owner said, 'and therefore I thought it was appropriate.'"  This in response to questioning as to why management would dismiss the claims of women assaulted.

I will be honest, I am flummoxed by all the recent accusations.  I do not have a cogent response, even as a survivor myself.  My gut says one thing, my heart another, and my brain says something totally opposite.

“I said to her, ‘Nicole, he stuck his fingers in my vagina less than an hour ago,’” she later recounted in court. She begged the manager to get Deiter’s client out of the massage room immediately. “She said she could not do that, and she invited me in to talk about my services,” Ingram added.

Frustrated, Ingram called the police, who interviewed Deiter that afternoon. He quickly admitted to assaulting not just Ingram but other Massage Envy clients as well. “I need help,” he confessed. The next year, Deiter pleaded guilty to sexually molesting a total of nine women while working at Massage Envy from fall 2014 to spring 2015.

Two of those women had tried to warn the spa about Deiter before Ingram had, court records show. Three months before Ingram’s assault, one woman told the spa that Deiter had touched her genitals. One month before Ingram's assault, another woman reported he had touched her breasts. The spa decided their allegations weren’t credible, in part because, like Ingram, both women had made them over the phone and wouldn’t return to the spa to discuss the events in person. Lawyers would later ask the spa owner and another clinic manager why they would judge an alleged sexual assault victim on her willingness to return to the scene of the crime.

Although geared specifically to the massage industry, this bit of advice bodes well,

Even if employees aren’t sure whether a client has been the victim of a crime, they should encourage the person to file formal charges with law enforcement or state regulatory boards, massage experts said. Victims’ rights advocates said facilities should prominently display their reporting policies and hire specially trained, independent consultants if criminal allegations arise.

More Than 180 Women Have Reported Sexual Assaults At Massage Envy