CHARLOTTE — A woman who worked with Jarrod Crawford, the Charlotte massage therapist who was arrested this week on charges of peeping on a client, says Crawford victimized her when they were trading professional massages earlier this year.
The former coworker, who is also a professional massage therapist, wanted to remain anonymous. However, she filed a complaint about the incident with the North Carolina Board of Massage and Bodywork Therapy.
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The now-independent massage therapist says she worked with Crawford earlier this year at Nature’s Spa and Wellness in South Charlotte. She described an incident on April 2 when she and Crawford were scheduled to trade 90-minute massages, a practice she says is common in the industry.
She says she set her cellphone on the counter to time the massage and fell asleep shortly after. She reported waking up to Crawford offering a breast massage, which she declined, questioning his certification in that modality.
Upon checking her phone afterward, she says she found it opened to a private photo album containing intimate photos of herself.
The woman says she confronted Crawford about the breach of privacy, which he denied. She claimed she alerted her supervisor and the spa manager the next day, expressing discomfort in working with Crawford further.
Crawford was fired from Nature’s Spa days later, the woman said. She expressed no surprise at Crawford’s arrest this week, given her previous experience with him.
Channel 9 told you on Tuesday about the charges against Crawford. Police say he admitted to secretly recording a woman as she undressed at the Silent Moment Spa in South Charlotte last Wednesday.
Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz found Crawford has a history of employment issues at other massage establishments besides these two. That includes Massage Envy, where he was terminated following complaints from female clients, and Mood House Spa, where he was let go for other issues.
Officials with the State Board told Channel 9 they got complaints about Crawford this year and put him on a one-year probation in August. He was ordered to pay a $500 fine and complete 14 hours of continuing education in ethics, roles and boundaries.
An assistant manager at Silent Moment told Channel 9’s Hannah Goetz that she was not part of the hiring process and didn’t know about any marks on his record.
Channel 9 asked the State Board when the complaints from each establishment would have appeared on Crawford’s record, and whether his record was consulted by companies that hired him. We have not yet heard back.
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