Virginia Massage Envy Client Applauds Changes After Sex Assault

RICHMOND, VA — The Richmond, Virginia, woman who criticized Massage Envy's response to nearly 200 sexual assault reports nationwide helped the chain change policy. On Tuesday she declared victory after her petition criticizing the company's helped lead to significant changes in how the country's largest massage chain handles allegations of sexual misconduct. The company has begun to support individuals sexually assaulted at their stores, says Danielle Dick, who wrote an account of her assault.

While her assailant was ultimately convicted after a humiliating trial, Dick says the way Massage Envy handled her report was equally awful. The local manager refused to call police, and said the firm would handle the assault report internally. Her outrage at the directions by Massage Envy at the corporate level to not call police in many situations has been echoed nationally. More than 180 women have accused massage therapists from the popular chain, and the company has repeatedly ignored the allegations, BuzzFeed News reported Nov. 26.

BuzzFeed cited court records, police reports and other complaints from women who reported being groped and penetrated by massage therapists at Massage Envy locations across the country.

On Tuesday, Dick praised the Massage Envy leadership for what she called its comprehensive and transparent plan to address the issue of sexual assault, that includes working with RAINN, the nation’s largest organization devoted to preventing sexual assault and supporting victims. "Their plan includes everything for which I advocated, and I feel confident that it represents a major step forward in preventing sexual assault and supporting victims," she said.

Massage Envy announced sweeping changes to how it will handle sexual misconduct allegations after the investigation by BuzzFeed News discovered reports of abuse were rampant. It found 180 women have filed sexual assault lawsuits, police reports and other complaints against Massage Envy outposts, employees and the national company.

"While we believe the BuzzFeed story did misrepresent our brand, it also gave us new perspective on these issues, and led us to look carefully at how we can do more," the company's general counsel told reporters on a conference call Tuesday. "The Commitment to Safety plan we announced this morning is the outcome of that work."

If a client reports sexual assault, Massage Envy will now require employees to offer local law enforcement contact information and a private room for the customer to call if they choose to do so. Massage Envy previously told individual owners to conduct inquiries after a customer reported sexual assault but provided no blueprint for how to do so.

The company will also conduct background checks on employees every year, instead of just once when an employee is hired. It also announced a partnership with RAINN, an anti-sexual violence organization, which will review Massage Envy's sexual assault policies and procedures. RAINN will serve on the company's new safety advisory council and will be joined by Dick.

Massage Envy CEO Joseph Magnacca said, "In shaping this plan, we knew that we must do it thoughtfully and we couldn’t do it alone. In addition to experts in victims’ rights, sexual violence and the massage industry, Danielle Dick provided important insight, and has been a key voice in shaping the plan. This plan, which was designed to create a safe environment for both clients and therapists, will be rolled out and implemented across the network over the coming weeks."

Dick, a college professor and mother of a young son, wrote on the Medium website in October that her stop at a Richmond area Massage Envy went horribly wrong. "...In the end I found myself with a masseuse's hand around my throat, and then face down with his hand covering my mouth while he violated me."

During the trial of her assailant, his lawyer asked Dick what she was wearing and whether she might have done something to give the masseuse the wrong impression. While he was convicted of a felony sexual assault and admitted to everything that happened, he maintained through the end that he did it "for my pleasure," she wrote.

Her online petition received more than 62,000 signatures.

On the petition site Dick says, "They refused to allow me to get on the phone with the supervisor. That person did call the next day – to tell me that they understood that I was 'unhappy with my massage experience', so they would not charge me for the massage."

In the following year, as Dick's attacker was in court, she said she never heard from anyone at Massage Envy, either from the local franchise or the national corporation. No apology was issued, she wrote, and she continued to receive mailings for the local Massage Envy where she was assaulted.

In another regional case, a woman filed a $25 million lawsuit against Massage Envy and the masseur she says sexually assaulted her during a massage at the Tenleytown parlor in the Washington, D.C., area.

Habtamu Gebreslassie, 24, of Silver Spring, Md. is charged with first-degree sexual abuse in both cases for allegedly performed oral sex on the clients against their will. He was later fired and is scheduled to go to trial in January.

A D.C. Superior Court Judge denied bond for Gebreslassie, saying "there are no conditions that would prevent future dangerousness," WTOP reports.

One of Gebreslassie's alleged victims filed a $25 million lawsuit against Massage Envy and Gebreslassie. The married woman in her 20s said Gebreselassie assaulted her in the final 15 minutes of her 90-minute massage on Sept. 17. at the Tenleytown business at 4926 Wisconsin Ave. NW.

Personal injury attorney Kim Brooks Rodney said Massage Envy received prior complaints of a similar nature about Gebreselassie before the woman was a patron at the spa.

Massage Envy sent the following statement to The Washington Post about the lawsuit: "Massage Envy requires franchisees to complete extensive background screenings and reference checks and strictly enforce our Code of Conduct and Zero Tolerance Policy to ensure guests have a safe and professional experience when they visit a franchised location," the statement said.

Gebreslassie is no longer employed by the company. According to court documents, he denied the accusations.

The victim filed the lawsuit Sept. 26 to "obtain compensation for the damages she has suffered and will continue to suffer, and, as importantly, to make sure that no other patron of a Massage Envy establishment ever experiences a sexual assault," the statement said.

Photo Credit: Amy Sussman/Invision for Massage Envy/AP Images