Massage Therapist Charged With Sexually Assaulting Rittenhouse Woman at Home - Philadelphia...

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Left: Eric Elliott in a mugshot taken after his arrest last weekend. (Philadelphia Police Department) Right: Elliott at his Felicity Massage & Wellness booth at the 2015 2nd Street Festival. (Promotional photo via the Felicity Massage & Wellness Facebook page.)


More than three months after a 23-year-old Rittenhouse woman came forward to the Philadelphia Police Department with allegations that she was sexually assaulted inside her home by her massage therapist, a suspect is in custody.

On Saturday, police arrested 44-year-old masseur Eric Elliott, the manager of Felicity Massage & Wellness. The company operates out of Newtown and Northern Liberties, according to Yelp pages associated with the business. Elliott has been charged with involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, and sexual assault — all felonies — as well as one misdemeanor count of indecent assault.

According to documents filed in court, Elliott visited the young woman’s apartment on the 1500 block of Locust Street around 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 3rd, for their weekly appointment. She says that while she was lying on the massage table, Elliott sexually assaulted her using his hands and mouth.

When the victim gave her statement to police just hours after the incident, she told detectives that she was in shock and was afraid to move during the assault and that after it was over, Elliott washed his hands and left.

“I’m just stunned,” says one business colleague we spoke with, who told us that Elliott has been working with her at her Bucks County acupuncture office for more than a year. “He seems like a really great guy.”

Court records indicate that Elliott has previously been charged with crimes under the alias Gabriel Stevens. In 1997 in Municipal Court, he was found guilty of corrupting a minor, simple assault, indecent assault, and endangering the welfare of a child in a case that was later overturned on appeal. In 1998, he was convicted of simple assault and sentenced to two years of probation. In 2000, charges against him of carjacking, robbery, and aggravated assault were dismissed. And in 2005, Elliott was sentenced to five years probation after pleading guilty to a weapons offense.

According to the Pennsylvania Department of State, Elliott has been a licensed massage therapist since 2012 and has no history of disciplinary actions.

Elliott was being held on $50,000 bail at Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility. He posted bail on Monday and is scheduled for a preliminary hearing on June 30th at 11 a.m. It is unclear if Elliott, who did not return a call seeking comment, is working as a massage therapist while out on bail.

Follow @VictorFiorillo on Twitter.

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