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Update: Two more women have accused massage therapist Habtamu Gebreslassie of sexual assault.
In total, there are four separate sexual assault accusations against the 24 year old—three of the incidents took place at Massage Envy franchises and one of them took place at Deluca Massage and Bodywork in Dupont Circle.
A woman told police on Thursday that Gebreslassie touched her inner thigh around her groin area against her will during a session at Deluca Massage and Bodywork in June, according to a Metropolitan Police Department report.
Police have already charged him with first and second-degree sexual assault in two other cases that took place at Massage Envy in Tenleytown on August 28 and September 17.
NBC Washington reports that a fourth woman contacted the news outlet on Thursday and said that Gebreslassie “touched her inappropriately, bruised her, and made her feel uncomfortable” at the Massage Envy location in Bowie, Maryland, on June 20.
She said she reported the attack to the spa’s management the following day and asked to cancel her membership. She said they couldn’t cancel her membership and instead offered her a free spa day, according to NBC Washington. She said they told her that Gebreselassie had been transferred to D.C. so she wouldn’t have to see him at again at the Bowie spot.
He has not been charged in the fourth case, which is still under investigation.
Original: After seeing a report about another victim, a woman told police that the same former massage therapist sexually assaulted her at a Tenleytown spa about three weeks earlier.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for D.C. charged 24-year-old Habtamu Gebreslassie on Wednesday with attempted first and second-degree sexual abuse for an incident that the victim says took place on August 28.
She said Gebreslassie placed something over her eyes, put his face close to her vagina, and touched her beyond her bikini line against her will during a session at Massage Envy, according to a court document.
She told police that she screamed for Gebreslassie to stop. He apologized and said, “I’ve never done this before, I don’t know what got into me,” according to court documents. She said she immediately left the room, noticed there was no manager at the front desk, and left the building.
A week later, the woman said she spoke with the spa’s manager about the incident. But after she saw a news report on September 18 about Gebreslassie’s arrest for allegedly assaulting another woman, she went to police.
That victim alleged that Gebreslassie placed his tongue on her vagina on September 17. He was arrested and charged with first and second-degree sexual abuse in that case. He appeared in court on Monday for the first case and has a hearing on Thursday morning for the second reported incident.
Both alleged assaults took place at Massage Envy’s Tenleytown location—its first D.C. franchise, which opened in August.
Gebreslassie no longer works for the business, according to a Tenleytown spa manager. Management has not responded to questions as to why they did not fire him after the first woman’s complaint.
Corporate officials at Massage Envy said in a statement that though officials can’t comment on a franchisee’s “confidential employment matters,” the company has a zero tolerance policy on inappropriate conduct “and requires its franchisees to conduct fair, thorough, and objective investigations with respect to any allegation of inappropriate conduct.” They say they’re evaluating to verify that requirement was met in the Tenleytown case.
