MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Miami Beach police arrested a 51-year-old massage therapist Monday after they said he sexually battered a client during what was supposed to be a lymphatic drainage session.
Police said the assault happened at Sun Curves Miami, located at 1000 West Ave. in South Beach.
According to an arrest report, the victim told police that she had undergone the same two-hour treatment with the therapist, Erick Carmona Barrios, twice before with no issues.
That was not the case on Friday, police said.
The report states toward the end of the session, at around 7:45 p.m., Barrios lowered the victim’s underpants and began massaging her pelvic area, eventually doing so in “a more sensual manner” as he moved closer to her genitals.
The woman “immediately became overwhelmed with fear, as she described (Barrios) as being physically larger and stronger than herself,” police wrote.
She told Barrios to “stop” after he began rubbing her genitals, at which point he switched to fondling her breasts, according to police.
But Barrios went back to touching the woman’s genitals and digitally penetrated her, stopping after she said “no!”, the report states.
After Barrios told the woman to turn over on the massage table, she escaped by telling him she needed to use the bathroom, police said.
Police said she quickly threw on her clothes and went to the front desk to report what happened.
The frantic woman was “hysterically crying” as she came out of the room and surveillance video showed her under “severe distress” as she pointed to her genital area, the arrest report states.
Authorities said officers responded to the spa after being informed of the assault at around 8:30 p.m.
The spa owner would later tell police “that under no circumstances is the vulva/vagina area touched” during a session and that in addition to running the spa, she’s undergone lymphatic drainage sessions with Barrios and he “never removes her underpants,” police wrote.
The owner and her sister, who works at the front desk, gave police Barrios’ contact information, which authorities used to schedule an interview at police headquarters Monday.
During that interview, Barrios “admitted that he could very easily have touched (the woman) in the vulva/vagina area but did not do so with wrongful intentions.”
Police said Barrios “demonstrated several times how his knuckles or side of hand would rub on the vulva/vagina area while working the pelvic area” but denied ever penetrating or fondling the victim’s breasts.
Authorities arrested Barrios, of southwest Miami-Dade, on a charge of sexual battery of a physically helpless victim.
According to jail records, a Miami-Dade judge gave him a $10,000 bond, but the Cuban national remained in the Metro West Detention Center on an immigration hold as of Tuesday afternoon.
“My client is a registered masseuse (sic),” Barrios’ attorney said during a court hearing. “He is also blind.”
Local 10 News later spoke with the spa’s owner, who said she was stunned by the allegations and fired Barrios immediately. She said the allegations don’t match with the man she knew him to be and said the business is cooperating with police.