Massage therapist faces sex assault charge

A former registered massage therapist and Vancouver singer has been charged with sexual assault.

Bodhi Jones is alleged to have assaulted female patients between September 2016 and March 2017.

Vancouver police say several women made the claims.

In March 2017, the VPD’s sex crimes unit began investigating allegations of sexual assaults against Jones.

He has now been charged with four counts of sexual assault.

“Sex assaults are some of the most challenging investigations, and solving them is a priority for the VPD,” VPD spokesman Const. Jason Doucette said in a statement.

“We are publicly releasing this information with the hope of providing those affected with a direct point of contact at the VPD. We want to hear from anyone who feels they may have been assaulted by Mr. Jones.”

Anyone who may be affected is asked to contact the VPD Sex Crimes Unit at 604-717-0603 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

In February 2017, the College of Massage Therapists of B.C. said Jones had voluntarily resigned his registration with the college during an investigation into his conduct while practicing massage therapy.

The college said Jones is not authorized to practice as a registered massage therapist in B.C., and that he is not allowed use the titles “registered massage therapist,” “massage therapist,” “registered massage practitioner,” or “massage practitioner,” or any abbreviations of those titles.

Jones’ Facebook page has been taken down, but in a post on Sept. 14, he wrote a message about studying to become an RMT, in which he offered Swedish relaxation massages for as low as $15 an hour.

Jones also has had somewhat of a singing career, and has been featured singing on local radio and television stations and has released several CDs.

In 2009, Jones was selected as Virgin Radio’s B.C. artist of the month and was a 2013 Peak Performance Project Top 20 finalist.