South Fulton County

Lawsuit says South Fulton massage therapist sexually assaulted client

SOUTH FULTON, Ga. — A lawsuit claims a city of South Fulton massage therapist sexually assaulted a client.

"I did not know what to do. I was just like paralyzed with fear," said accuser Nia Cleveland told Channel 2 consumer investigator Jim Strickland.

Her attorney Matt Stoddard said his client used a gift card from her husband at Zen Message on Butner Road in May 2015.

Cleveland said massage therapist Gary Tavares was giving her a hamstring stretch when he put his hand inside her underwear and assaulted her.

"I did not scream. I was literally like frozen with fear," she said. "They need to put some other measures in place, especially since this has happened before at the establishment."

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Therapist Antwon Rowe was convicted in a similar case reported in 2011.

At the time, Channel 2 Action News questioned Zen Massage owner Steve Labroi.

"There's a very big concern. Of course, we're concerned about all of our customers," Labroi said.

"It's devastating that a business wouldn't take more steps to try to prevent this sort of event when they know that it's happened in the past," Stoddard said.

Zen Massage attorney Douglas Burrell sent Strickland a statement saying:

"We consider these very serious allegations. We are in the process of conducting an investigation before we make any comment."

The massage therapist is facing a criminal trial as well. The trial is scheduled to begin Friday.