Massage therapist charged with sexually assaulting customers at Woodmere spa - cleveland.com

[massage]

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A former massage therapist is charged with raping a customer and sexually assaulting another during their appointments at a Woodmere spa in 2022.

A Cuyahoga County grand jury handed up an indictment Monday charging Nicholas Horvath, 23, with one count of rape, one count of sexual battery and two counts of sexual imposition.

Horvath, of Highland Heights, is set for an April 25 arraignment in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court.

No attorney information for Horvath is listed in court records.

The incidents occurred at Hand & Stone Massage and Facial Spa on Chagrin Boulevard less than a month apart, according to court filings.

Police wrote in a court filing that two customers separately reported that Horvath sexually assaulted them during their appointments.

One of the women told police that Horvath rubbed his genitals on her arm and leg during a massage on Oct. 26, 2022.

The other woman said that Horvath touched her genitals with his hand beneath a blanket on Nov. 12, 2022, according to police.

That woman filed a lawsuit against the spa, its owners and Horvath in November. The complaint said that she fell asleep during her session and awoke to Horvath sexually assaulting her. After the session, she tried several times to contact the spa’s owner, the lawsuit said.

She reported the incident to police about a week later.

The lawsuit also said that someone sent an unsigned, typed-out letter to the woman’s prior address that accused her of having an “agenda” and “targeting a young, new employee that was newly beginning a profession in massage therapy,” according to the lawsuit.

The letter also claimed to have a recorded video of her massage session and that whether the video would be made public would be “based on how fast you work to resolve this huge mistake you made, falsely accusing someone of awful inappropriate acts that truly never happened.”

The letter also referred to Hand & Stone as a large corporation with locations across the United States and Canada that had “lots of money!”

The lawsuit is pending.

Horvath was issued his license for massage therapy in November 2022, according to the State Medical Board. The 11-member board suspended his license during its May 2023 meeting, citing the allegations. The board voted 8-0, with three members abstaining.

Hand & Stone is a national chain of spas, and the Woodmere franchise was the first in the Greater Cleveland area when it opened in 2015, the Sun News reported.

Cleveland.com and The Plain Dealer reached out to Horvath and the spa for comment.

The Hand & Spa corporate headquarters released a statement through a spokeswoman that the franchise owners of the Woodmere location fired Horvath when they learned about the allegations against him.

“Hand & Stone has an uncompromising commitment to creating and maintaining a safe and respectful environment for its guests and service providers,” the statement said.

The statement also said that all of the company’s franchises have numerous safety measures in place, including hiring and screening tools, therapist training and a policy to inform customers of a button under each massage table they can push if they feel uncomfortable.

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