Predatory massage therapist sentenced to 11 years in prison

A Minneapolis massage therapist was ordered to serve 11 years imprisonment and be registered as a predatory sex offender on Valentines Day 2011. Lawrence Martin Valencour, 62, was convicted back in November of four counts of 4th degree criminal sexual conduct at a week long trial presided over by District Judge Thomas Poch. The assaults happened at Apple Valley, MN's A Touch Of Tranquility massage parlor, which has shut down.

In 2008, three women reported to Apple Valley police that Valencour had touched their breasts and genitals and put his genitals in their hands during massages, according to a criminal complaint. Police located three more victims through the business's owner.

The owner, who hired Valencour, base the hiring on the recommendation of a massage school she trusted. The misplaced trust cost her her business and those women their dignity.

Dakota County Attorney James Backstrom, the prosecutor, said, "We're pleased with the lengthy prison term that was handed down today in this case. These types of crimes are extremely traumatic to the victims, whose privacy is directly invaded in a very disturbing way." Backstrom said the 11 years for the 4th degree CSC counts were the maximum prison sentence that could be handed down.

Massage therapist sentenced to 4 years 2 months for groping patients

An Oregon City, OR massage therapist was sentenced to four years and two months in prison for fondling vulnerable women. Rick McDaniel, the owner of Soulful Massage Therapy, plead guilty to 2 counts of second-degree sexual abuse in Clackamas County Circuit Court Tuesday, August 10. Originally, McDaniel was charged with 17 counts of 2nd degree sex assault involving 13 women, but most of the counts were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. After a victim videotaped McDaniel admitting the groping and blaming it on sex addiction, he was indicted in March this year.

McDaniel selected particularly vulnerable women -- one had leukemia, another had been raped years earlier, said prosecutor Bill Golden. The women need someone caring to talk to as they tried to "regain a sense of well being and balance," Golden said. Instead, they met a man who used the encounters "for his own gratification," Golden said.

Four victims were present during McDaniel's sentence. The former rape survivor said, "Over time, I opened my heart and revealed my personal history.You can't understand the pain I feel." A second victim stated, "I can't get back what I lost. Now I have hate inside me. You're a very sick person. You're not a man, you're an animal."

After McDaniel had tried to apologize to his victims, Circuit Judge Ronald D. Thom prevented him from doing so. "I think that would be highly inappropriate given the circumstances," said Judge Thom.