Massage therapist enters plea in sexual assault of client - WZZM13.com

[massage]

GRAND RAPIDS, MICH. - A Grand Rapids massage therapist pleaded no contest Monday to third-degree criminal sexual conduct for assaulting a client during a therapy session in February.

John Timothy Ashby, 54, entered the plea before Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock on the day Ashby's trial was to get underway.

Under a plea agreement, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office will not pursue additional charges involving three other women who have come forward to say Ashby assaulted them while working at Massage Green Spa at Centerpointe Mall in Grand Rapids.

He is the second spa therapist convicted this year of inappropriate contact with clients at Massage Green Spa, which has since closed.

Massage therapist Lance Martinez pleaded no contest in June to fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct. He admitted to touching a woman’s breasts during a message last September. A Kent County judge in late July sentenced Martinez to three months in jail and three years on probation.

Ashby is being held in the Kent County Jail on $300,000 bond. He’ll return for sentencing on Sept. 29.

Under terms of the plea agreement, the prosecutor’s office will recommend a term of no more than a year behind bars, but the sentence will ultimately be up to the judge.

Ashby, of Caledonia, was licensed as a massage therapist in 2014 and worked as a private contractor at the Massage Green Spa.

(© 2016 WZZM)

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