West Valley massage therapist charged with abusing patient

West Valley massage therapist charged with abusing patient

(Zolnierek, Shutterstock)


Save Story
Leer en español

Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.

SALT LAKE CITY — A licensed massage therapist was charged Thursday with inappropriately touching a patient.

Gabriel Rodolfo Bran, 53, of West Valley City, is charged in 3rd District Court with object rape, a first-degree felony.

On Jan. 8, a 40-year-old woman said she "received a massage for medical issues" from Bran at a chiropractor office in Salt Lake County, according to charging documents. During the massage, Bran pulled one of the woman's legs away from her body and inappropriately touched her, the charges state.

Another massage therapist at the clinic told investigators that he knew "'lines were crossed' when he saw the look on (the woman's) face," the charges state.

A $200,000 warrant was issued Thursday for Bran's arrest.

He has been licensed to practice in Utah since 2015, according to the Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing.

Bran is the latest massage therapist to recently be charged or convicted of inappropriately touching patients.

On Monday, Nevin Timothy Sheehan, 22, was sentenced to up to five years at the Utah State Prison for attempted forcible sexual abuse, a third-degree felony. In July 2016, Sheehan was giving a woman a massage at the Healing Mountain Massage School. The woman said Sheehan was massaging her inner thigh when he "occasionally" touched her inappropriately.

In January, Kevin Rand, 47, of Millcreek, pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual battery, a class A misdemeanor, for inappropriately touching two women at A New Day Spa. He was sentenced in February to 90 days in jail.

In 2017, Francisco Fernandez, 39, of Salt Lake City, was charged with two counts of forcible sexual abuse for allegedly inappropriately touching a woman during two massages.

Most recent Utah stories

Related topics

Utah
Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

STAY IN THE KNOW

Get informative articles and interesting stories delivered to your inbox weekly. Subscribe to the KSL.com Trending 5.
By subscribing, you acknowledge and agree to KSL.com's Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

KSL Weather Forecast