3rd S.L. masseur is arrested

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Mar 21, 2008 | by Pat Reavy Deseret Morning News

Another massage therapist has been arrested for investigation of sexually assaulting a female client. The incident marked the third masseur arrest in Salt Lake City in a little over a month.

Terry Farnsworth, 44, was booked earlier this week into the Salt Lake County Jail for investigation of forcible sex abuse. A warrant was issued late last week and Farnsworth was picked up by another agency Monday, said Salt Lake police detective Jared Wihongi.

Farnsworth worked at Matrix Massage, 533 S. 700 East, where investigators said he assaulted a client while giving a massage. He is the second employee from Matrix to be arrested on accusations of sexual assault in recent weeks.

In February, Robert Levar Jones, 30, who also worked at Matrix, was charged in 3rd District Court with forcible sodomy and forcible sex abuse when he inappropriately touched a woman while giving her a massage, court documents state. Jones was not a licensed masseur in Utah.

Also in February, Robert Barela, 27, was charged with first- degree felony rape and forcible sex abuse. Like the others, Barela, an employee of Massage Envy, 655 E. 400 South, was charged with assaulting and raping a woman whom he was giving a massage.

Because of the publicity generated from the first two arrests, Wihongi said two additional women stepped forward claiming they were also victimized. One woman accused one of the men already arrested but there was not enough evidence to file additional charges, he said.

The other woman said Farnsworth was the one who attacked her, but she didn't have the courage to report the incident to police until she heard about the arrests.

There was no evidence Thursday to show the three incidents were related.

E-mail: preavy@desnews.com