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SALT LAKE CITY — A massage therapist in Salt Lake City who was also an instructor at a massage school is accused of grooming and sexually abusing students.
Meade Calvin Steadman, 58, of Murray, was charged Tuesday in 3rd District Court with two counts of object rape, a first-degree felony, and three counts of forcible sexual abuse, a second-degree felony.
Four women say Steadman sexually abused them while they were either a student at the Salt Lake County massage therapy school where he was an instructor; or at his private studio, Tranquil Touch, according to charging documents.
Steadman "was training and grooming students to do sexual favors for him under the guise that he was helping them," the charges state. "(He) is a licensed massage therapist and a teacher. (Steadman) took his position of trust to prey upon the victims."
Most of the abuse occurred between 2019 and 2020 with one victim stating she was abused in 2004, according to the charges.
The women told police similar stories of how Steadman would inappropriately touch them during a massage, and would sometimes be nude himself while giving the massage, the charges allege.
Prosecutors have requested that Steadman be held in the Salt Lake County Jail without the possibility of posting bail, pending trial.
Although court documents say Steadman was a licensed massage therapist at the time of the alleged assaults, he surrendered his license to practice as a massage therapist and as an esthetician in October, according to an order filed by the Division of Occupational Licensing.
In the stipulation and order by the state division, Steadman — while "neither admitting nor denying the findings of fact" — agreed to surrender his massage license for five years. According to the order filed by the division, Steadman was fired from his job as a massage therapist on Aug. 30, 2021, after his employer received a complaint that he inappropriately touched a woman while giving her a massage. Steadman's former employer told the division that he "has a history of client complaints," the order states.
