Massage Therapist Gets Jail Time For Sexually Assaulting Clients

(Updated at 4:10 p.m. Friday): WASHINGTON, D.C. — A massage therapist who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting several of his customers at a D.C. Massage Envy was sentenced to prison Friday.

Habtamu Gebreslassie, 24, of Silver Spring pleaded guilty in December 2017 to abusing or attempting to abuse three female customers. He was sentenced to five years in prison in the D.C. Superior Court Friday.

Two of the assaults occurred at the Massage Envy in Tenleytown, prosecutors said. The third misdemeanor sex charge stemmed from an incident at DeLuca Massage in Dupont.

Gebreslassie allegedly performed oral sex on his clients without their consent during their massage session, police said. He was arrested Sept. 17 and has been held without bond. On Nov. 27, BuzzFeed News published a report that over 180 women have accused massage therapists from the popular chain of sexual assault.

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.

One of Gebreslassie's alleged victims, who initially filed a $25 million lawsuit under the pseudonym "Jane Doe," decided to come forward publicly after the BuzzFeed report and spoke about the lawsuit at a press conference held at Cohen & Cohen P.C.

See Related:

• Massage Therapist To Plead Guilty To Sexual Assault Of Patients
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• Virginia Massage Envy Client Writes About Sexual Assault
  
• Woman Files $25M Lawsuit Against Massage Envy, Masseur
  
• Second Victim Accuses DC Massage Therapist Of Sex Assault
  
• DC Massage Therapist Arrested For Sexually Assaulting

Tara Woodley, a married woman in her 20s, said Gebreslassie performed oral sex on her against her will at the Tenleytown spa. She sued, stating Gebreselassie assaulted her in the final 15 minutes of her 90-minute massage on Sept. 17. at the Tenleytown business.

"It is almost impossible to express how violated I felt and how scared I was," Woodley said at the news conference. "I felt deep shame and embarrassment about what happened to me."

Personal injury attorney Kim Brooks-Rodney, with the Cohen and Cohen law firm, said Massage Envy received prior complaints of a similar nature about Gebreselassie before Woodly went to the spa.

Gebreselassie worked at the Bowie location and was allegedly moved to the Tenleytown spa after a client accused him of sexual assault.

"He was on a trend. Basically, every month, he was targeting somebody, and I was September," Woodley said at the news conference. "So, I thank God that it happened to me, that my husband encouraged me to call the police, and that it won't happen to a November woman or December woman."

>> See the court-filed Massage Envy lawsuit here.

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