A masseuse from the Seal Beach Massage Envy will be in court today for a pretrial hearing on felony charges for allegedly sexually assaulting three clients.
Jason Michael Elliott, of Sunset Beach, has pleaded not guilty to three
felony counts of assault with intent to commit a sexual offense.
Elliott worked at the spa from August 2009 to April 2010 when the company fired him amid a police investigation into claims that he assaulted three women, prosecutors said.
Despite the investigation Elliott continued to work as a masseuse in Mission Viejo and other parts of Orange County until the California Massage Therapy Council revoked his certification.
The case began Nov. 8, 2009 when a 33-year-old woman told police Elliot had sexually assaulted her that day at the Seal Beach Boulevard Massage Envy. As detectives investigated her claim, they found two other alleged victims.
Prosecutors allege Elliott sexually assaulted a 30-year-old woman at the same business during a spa treatment on Sept. 30, 2009 and a 21-year-old woman who paid for a massage April 29, 2010.
Elliott remains free on $100,000 bail, but he could faces up to eight years and eight months in prison if convicted.
Elliot isn’t the county’s only Massage Envy masseuse to be accused of sexual assault in the last year. This year, two women accused Mark Pergil Valenzon, a masseuse at the Laguna Beach location of masturbating and pressing up against them during the massage. The women in that case are also suing the salon, alleging the company covered up “knowledge that Valenzon was a threat to his female clients.”
Massage Envy has also been named in other lawsuits involving rape and sexual assault in Tustin, Maryland, Texas, Utah and Kansas City.
