Middlebury massage therapist sentenced for taping nude clients - vtdigger.org

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Roger Schmidt, owner of the former Roger’s Relaxing Massage Therapy, has been sentenced for secretly filming clients who he was giving massages.


A Middlebury massage therapist pleaded guilty Monday to nearly 30 counts of voyeurism for videotaping nude women — a crime that his victims say has left them feeling violated, embarrassed, and unsafe in public.

Roger Schmidt, the former owner of Roger’s Relaxing Massage Therapy who had initially pleaded not guilty, was sentenced to a mandatory six months of jail time and a $3,087 fine. He will remain on probation for at least 2.5 years, during which time he is not allowed to do body work on female clients. In addition to his voyeurism charges, Schmidt has been convicted of the illegal practice of medicine: He claimed his massages had medical benefits that he was not qualified to provide.

Roger’s Relaxing Massage Therapy was located in a Victorian-style house in downtown Middlebury, next door to the Addison County Sheriff’s Office. There, Schmidt invited clients to enjoy his myofascial release approach and his emphasis on pain reduction.

According to an affidavit from Middlebury Police Detective Kris Bowdish, Schmidt hid a camera in the upper outlet of his massage room. The camera picked up the reflections of female clients in two mirrors hanging on the opposite wall.

“It appears the mirrors had been hung at their location for this specific purpose,” the affidavit reads.

Most of the videos — recorded between 2016 and 2018 — were five to 10 minutes in length. Many were of exposed breasts or genitals, the affidavit states; all were of women. Schmidt stored the videos in a digital folder called “itchy.”

Bowdish interviewed 24 different victims during her investigation, several of whom alleged multiple counts of voyeurism. Their stories contain marked similarities: Schmidt touched people closer to their breasts or pelvic areas than they were comfortable with. He pushed them to take off their clothing. He seemed disappointed or irritated when they refused.

Multiple victims said Schmidt was a good massage therapist. One said it was immediately apparent he was “highly skilled.”

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But many victims also noted that Schmidt had a strange personal affect. Five people used the word “odd.”

In a psychological evaluation done preceding the final sentencing, forensic psychologist Thomas Powell used similar descriptives.

“Mr. Schmidt is a taciturn man with a relatively stern countenance,” the evaluation reads. “He demonstrated neither humor nor nuance, focusing without elaboration on his perception of facts and details.”

But several victims said they were concerned about showing bias towards Schmidt because he was an awkward older man.

Another claimed that she had wondered all along whether Schmidt was videotaping the sessions, although she could not pinpoint why. She suppressed the feeling, she said, because she didn’t want to be “unkind and biased because he was a man and because he was socially awkward.”

Of the 24 victim accounts, seven specifically state that the victim ignored an instinct because they didn’t want to be mean, or because they felt they should trust medical professionals.

“I did not trust my gut and I wanted to trust the process,” one said.

One woman realized that something was wrong when the nightmares started.

“There was some time that I thought I was just being too sensitive because Roger was a man but the nightmares really let me know that it was not okay,” she said.

But regardless of whether they felt uncomfortable with Schmidt during their sessions, many of the women stated they are now dealing with the aftermath. Some aren’t sleeping. Others don’t feel safe in public spaces.

“I am at a loss for understanding my emotions around what has happened to me. There are times that I uncontrollably break out into tears,” one woman said.

According to WCAX, Judge Alison said that the women’s testimonies were what convinced her to extend Schmidt’s sentence.

As for Schmidt himself, the psychological evaluation states that he feels guilty over his crimes and has attended all of his required therapy in the past year. He has tried to avoid his victims by isolating himself, which the evaluation claims he has managed “in a stoic fashion.”

“During the past year Mr. Schmidt has been isolated and to a large extent ostracized from the Middlebury community,” the evaluation reads. He was recently asked not to return to the local Baptist church after a congregation member got uncomfortable — and the evaluation states that such rejection “weighs heavily” on Schmidt.

In an email to Powell, Schmidt’s psychologist listed eight “summary points” of their time together. One of them states that he experienced “significant remorse over having harmed people who trusted him with their health and healing.”

“He pursued this career from a strong desire to help not harm,” the email continued.

But several of the victims noted in the affidavit that they experienced “harm” to an extreme degree.

“My trust has been violated in such a way that I can’t imagine being comfortable with any male medical professional,” one said.

“I am sick to my stomach to think that he might jerk off to [the videos],” another added. “I am finding myself uncomfortable around people wondering what their intentions might be; it’s hard to trust people right now.”


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