The plea before Judge Greg Howard was to a bill of information, which means Fox admitted to the crime and bypassed the grand jury process that could have resulted in an indictment.
According to prosecutors, on April 11 Fox rubbed the woman’s vaginal area with fingers for “the purpose of sexual gratification.”
After the session, Fox did not charge the woman for the one hour service, saying to her “your wellness is on the house,” said Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Jackie Welp.
Judge Greg Howard set sentencing for Jan. 15.
Fox faces up to 60 days in jail and will be required to register as a Tier I sexual offender meaning he will have to register his residence with the sheriff for 15 years.
Cryo Den opened last year at 215 Main St. providing Cryotherapy is a therapeutic application of extremely cold, dry air to aid in the healing of injuries and recovery of the body.
The charge is a misdemeanor in this case due to how Ohio law is written regarding massage type therapists, according to prosecutors.
In order to prove a felony offense in sexual conduct cases like rape there is a “gap in the legislature” pertaining to massage therapists and even doctors, according to Assistant Butler County Prosecutor Lindsay Sheehan, who is the chief of the child/sexual assault division.
“In general, to prove a crime like rape, we would have to prove some other element like he purposely compelled her to submit by force or threat of force. Those just aren’t the facts here and we wouldn’t expect to see those facts when it comes to someone in a massage therapy type situation,” she said.
The patient is usually on a bed and in a state of undress with a towel or draping and in a state of relaxation, maybe with eyes closed, “so you are just very accessible,” Sheehan said.
She noted that is the expectation when a patient gets some type of hands on treatment.
“The other options (to raise the charge to a felony) are we would have to show he impaired her by drugs or another intoxicant, or the age requirement but obviously she is over the age of 13, or impaired or unawareness like she was asleep and she woke up and he was touching her then (a felony charge) would fit,” Sheehan said. “So there really isn’t a good law to represent what happened.”
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