Chicago – A former massage therapist in a luxury hotel spa in River North has found guilty of sexual abuse of women who came to him for services. Joseph Mitchell, 34, was sentenced to seven years, but with good behavior and credit for wearing a single monitor at home, he will not spend time in prison.
The allegations led to a federal lawsuit by the women against Chuan Spa in the Langham Hotel Chicago, 330 North Wabash, which ended with a settlement of $ 2.2 million, according to the court reports.
Prosecutors said that Mitchell, who was fired after the women’s complaints popped up, was accused of the incorrect touch of women in two earlier jobs, but the earlier accusations never resulted in criminal prosecution.
The lawyers who represented the women claimed that De Langham ‘ignored the earlier complaints of sexual violence [by] Continue to hire Mitchell and even rent it again after he fired it because of the COVID-19 Pandemie. “
The victims and a group of colleagues were in Chicago from Tennessee to celebrate with a customer when they went to the Spa of Langham in September 2020, said prosecutors. One of the women, 42, planned the journey and arranged that everyone enjoys a Spa day in the Chuan Spa.
She told Chicago police that a therapist who identified himself as “Joseph” rubbed mud in her private areas with his bare hands without permission. She later drove in and out of sleep during a massage, said prosecutors, but she remembered that she felt that the therapist touched her private areas and woke up, discovered and exposed on her back, said prosecutors.
The other woman, 34, reported that Mitchell reached under a towel that covered her private areas and used his hands during her mudslast and massage. Hotel and SPA policy requires that therapists use a brush during the mud treatment, as is usual, said prosecutors.
Officials said that both women quickly shared their experiences with others and reported the allegations to the hotel about a week later. The hotel confronted Mitchell and fired him.
Detectives of the Chicago police learned that a woman did similar allegations against Mitchell when he worked as a massage therapist at a high-end fitness club in the city center, officers of justice said. They said that he was also accused of becoming inappropriate to a female colleague while registering jobs with a mass chain. The law firm for women said that the companies were the East Bank Club and were jealous.
Power Rogers LLP represented the women, which resulted in a settlement of $ 1.2 million for one of them and a settlement of $ 1 million for the other, according to the law firm.
This week, Mitchell pleaded guilty of two counting criminal sexual abuse and one count of worse battery in a public place. Judge Jennifer Coleman condemned him up to seven years before the charges for sexual abuse with a simultaneous three -year period for the battery.
For each status, those sentences were automatically reduced by 50%. Because Mitchell wore a single monitor for almost four years while waiting for the trial, which earned him credit for his prison sentence day-for-day, he will not be obliged to serve a prison.
