On November 20, 2020, the Florida Department of Health issued an Emergency Order restricting the massage therapy license of Reisner Brizuela Morales, a massage therapist from Miami, on account of alleged sexual misconduct at Massage Envy. The Order prohibits Morales from practicing massage therapy on female clients in the State of Florida. The Emergency Order was entered in response to a sexual misconduct complaint by a 31-year old female client. Morales was arrested in Miami-Dade for misdemeanor battery on his client for this incident.
Reisner Brizuela Morales, age 44, has been a licensed massage therapist in Florida since February 2013. Reisner Brizuela Morales was previously arrested on battery charged in April 2014 according to public records. Those charges were ultimately dismissed when the massage therapist entered into a deferred prosecution program.
In September 2020, Mr. Morales was employed at a Massage Envy location in Miami. On September 8, a 31-year old woman presented at Massage Envy for a ninety minute massage. During the massage, Morales separated the woman’s legs and massaged her right upper inner thigh. He then allegedly moved his hand upward and rubbed her vaginal area over her undergarment. He is then reported to have moved her undergarment to the side and rubbed her vagina for approximately thirty seconds to one minute. Later in the appointment, Mr. Morales reportedly squeezed the patient’s buttocks with both hands in what she described as a sexual manner and not a routine massage movement. That same day, the client reported Mr. Morales to the Miami-Dade Police Department and to the Massage Envy manager. On September 16, 2020, Mr. Morales was arrested and charged with one county of battery.
When clients schedule a massage, it is to decompress from the stresses of life. They trust that the massage therapists employed at the spa are carefully vetted and safe to engage with the public. It is unacceptable, immoral and unlawful for any employee to touch a client in a sexual manner. Clients of massage therapists are placed in isolated, vulnerable settings where they can be subject to abuse by their massage therapists. Due to the potential for abuse that is inherent under those circumstances, massage therapists must possess good judgment and good moral character in order to safely practice massage therapy.
Horowitz Law has filed numerous sexual assault lawsuits against massage therapists on behalf of clients who were inappropriately touched at Massage Envy franchises and other spas and resorts. If you have been a victim of sexual assault or sexual battery during a massage, or if you know someone who has, please contact our law firm at 888-283-9922 or send an e-mail to sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz for massage clients at [email protected] for a free consultation.