A Vancouver massage therapist was sentenced Wednesday to three years in prison for inappropriately touching six female clients during massages between January 2017 and August 2019.
Raymond A. Knutson, 36, pleaded guilty Sept. 30 in Clark County Superior Court to six counts of indecent liberties without forcible compulsion under the health care provider prong.
His agreed-upon sentence of 36 months was exceptionally high due to the multiple concurrent offenses, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Jeff McCarty said.
In a written statement read to Judge David Gregerson by a victim advocate, a woman said she never thought she was someone who could be taken advantage of, but she trusted Knutson after being his client for more than a year. As she began massage therapy school herself, she said she learned just how wrong Knutson’s touches were, which she perceived as accidents at the time.
She wrote she no longer trusts male massage therapists or her own judgment. It’s also caused her to distrust the health care and wellness industries in general, she said.
The woman said she now knows, through her own practice, how important it is for clients to feel safe.
Knutson’s defense attorney, Jon McMullen, said his client has taken responsibility for his actions and learned his lesson. He said Knutson knows he will be unable to practice in the health care industry again.
Knutson declined to make a statement to the judge.
Gregerson called the case heartbreaking and said he appreciated the woman who submitted her statement.
According to an affidavit of probable cause, a female client reported on July 27, 2018, that she was sexually assaulted by Knutson at his place of employment at 1104 Main St. Another woman also reported being inappropriately touched and having her breasts exposed by Knutson during appointments in the summer of 2019.
Investigators were contacted by the state Department of Health and learned of additional complaints against Knutson at the same location.
Three other women came forward in October 2019 and reported inappropriate touching by Knutson at appointments in 2017 and 2018. Some also said he exposed their breasts during their massages, the affidavit says. Another woman reported similar circumstances in March 2020.
The state issued his credentials in November 2012 and suspended them in January 2020 while the case was under investigation.
