Arrested massage therapist gets happy ending - Connecticut Post - CT Post

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Bruce N. Smith, 58, of Rhinebeck, N.Y. was arrested after an investigation into an August 2014 complaint that Smith was touching a female client inappropriately while performing a massage on her at his place of business, said Monroe Police Lt. Brian H. McCauley. less
Bruce N. Smith, 58, of Rhinebeck, N.Y. was arrested after an investigation into an August 2014 complaint that Smith was touching a female client inappropriately while performing a massage on her at his place of ... more

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Arrested massage therapist gets happy ending


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BRIDGEPORT — A jury on Wednesday found a Monroe massage therapist not guilty of sexually assaulting a female client.

“My client has been living with this for two years, maintaining his innocence,” said Tina Sypek D’Amato, who represented the therapist, 60-year-old Bruce Smith. “He lost his business, his license, it was a nightmare. But the jury did the right thing, they made the right decision.”

The six male jurors deliberated for about three and a half hours over two days before finding Smith, the former owner of Smith Etheric Massage on Monroe Turnpike, not guilty of fourth-degree sexual assault.

During the three-day trial before state Superior Court Judge William Holden, a 26-year-old local woman testified she had gone to Smith on Aug. 14, 2014, after getting a Groupon discount for a massage.

The woman testified she had gotten on the massage table while wearing only a pair of panties, and had covered herself with a sheet. She said Smith told her to roll onto her back and he pulled down the sheet, uncovering most of her body. After working his way down her body, she testified, he put his hands under her panties and began vigorously massaging.

Upset at Smith’s alleged actions, the woman complained to police the next day.

Under cross-examination, the woman said she never said anything to Smith while he was massaging her privates, and that when it was over, she tipped him $20 and bought some bath salts from him.

“She never said ‘stop,’ she never called for help. It’s clear she was lying,” Sypek D’Amato said.

Because of adverse publicity following her client’s arrest, Sypek D’Amato said, Smith will not be able to go back to giving massages.

“Instead, he is going to be lecturing to other massage therapists on the dangers involved,” she said.

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