Women sexually abused at unlicensed Vestavia Hills massage parlor: ‘Part of me has been taken away’ - AL.com

[massage]

A young Jefferson County woman looking forward to getting her first therapeutic massage ended up a sexual assault victim and has been living a nightmare for weeks.

The 26-year-old woman earlier this month saw that a Vestavia Hills massage parlor was offering a special for health care workers and first responders as a sign of appreciation for their efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Carrying a tremendous amount of stress in her neck, she said, she jumped at the offer and booked an appointment.

When it was over, however, the woman said she had been fondled and worse at the Oasis Day Spa and Wellness Center in a second-floor suite in the Rocky Ridge Plaza off Rocky Ridge Road. “I just don’t feel like myself anymore,’' she said. “I feel like a part of me has been taken away.”

Another woman, 39, received a massage at Oasis as a gift from a family member. She booked a one-hour hot stone massage and said she, too, ended up violated. “I can’t believe somebody had the audacity to do what he did,’' she said.

LeVan Uriah Johnson, the 43-year-old CEO of Oasis, has been charged with six counts of first-degree sexual abuse for six different woman who were clients at the business, which opened in October 2020. Though Oasis has a business license, the owner and employees are not licensed massage therapists.

Vestavia Hills police obtained the felony warrants in four cases 10 days ago and added two more on Monday. Lt. Mike Keller said the investigation is ongoing and more charges are possible. Anyone who believes they have been a victim of Johnson is asked to call Vestavia Hills police.

Johnson, a former U.S. Army soldier and former police chief in central Alabama, is being held in the Jefferson County Jail on bonds totaling more than a quarter of a million dollars. Johnson’s attorney didn’t return a call seeking comment and the spa was not open for business on Monday. The spa was shut down once the investigation began but authorities say Johnson reopened anyway.

Charging documents indicate the sexual assaults happened in November 2020 and January 2021. Two of the six victims recounted their ordeals with AL.com but asked that their names not be used since they are victims of sexual assault.

The 26-year-old health care worker was off that Monday and called Oasis about 9 a.m. and told them she was available to leave right then.

Instead, the woman who answered the phone told her to come at 2 p.m., which she did. When she arrived, she was greeted by the female employee with whom she had previously spoken on the phone. The employee introduced herself and told her she would be giving her the massage.

The victim was given paperwork to fill out, which is standard procedure. She provided her personal information and specified on paper that she only wanted her neck, shoulders and back worked on, she said. While filling out the paperwork, she said, she heard the floors creaking in one of the massage rooms. She said she found it somewhat odd, and eventually disconcerting.

“I thought, well maybe somebody was just getting a hard massage,’' she said. “But I kept hearing it and I was like, ‘What the hell?’’'

By then, it was 2:30 p.m. – 30 minutes past her appointment time. When it was finally time to begin her session, the woman said she ran into Johnson who introduced himself and thanked her for choosing Oasis.

She went into a dark room, the only light coming from one burning candle. “He came in and tells me the rules – like if it was too hard to let her (the female massage therapist) know. He said communication is a big key and he wanted me to enjoy my experience,’' she said. “I was like, “Oh you’re so sweet. Thank you.”

Though the woman had specified she only wanted a neck and back massage, she said the female therapist instead gave her a full body massage. But because she was female, the woman just went with it, not concerned or afraid at that point.

When her time was about up, the female therapist informed her that they were going to give her extra time since she’d had to wait so long, and that Johnson would be finishing the massage because he was more skilled in techniques for the neck.

“I was still laying on my stomach, but she told me to turn over and lay on my back,’' the woman said. “I’m already uncomfortable because I’m naked in a room with a man I don’t know. I was telling myself to ‘calm down, he’s a professional, he’s not going to do anything to you.’”

Johnson, she said, massaged her neck, and then her head. He inched down to her collarbone, and then went even further, fondling both of her breasts. “Now I’m scared. I froze,’' she said. “My body is paralyzed and I’m thinking about survival.”

He was breathing loudly, she said, and he touched her genitals. At that point, she told him she had to leave, and he told her, “No, this is part of Native American Healing.”

“Do you fight back? Because if you fight back, he’s going to hold you down and kill you,’' she said she recalled thinking. “And when he kills you, he’s going to put you in one of these rooms and no one would ever find you.”

Johnson, she said, then orally molested her. Again, she said she had to leave and lifted herself up. “He goes to the door and just says, ‘You can put your clothes on now,’’' she said.

The woman quickly dressed and ran to the bathroom and locked the door. She texted someone close to her who is in law enforcement and he told her to call 911 immediately. But she was panicked and just wanted to get out of there. She then texted some friends and told them to meet her at the Vestavia Hills Police Department.

Eventually, she left the bathroom and walked into the lobby. “I was trying to stay calm and they were like, ‘Did you enjoy your massage?’’' she said. “He was staring at me like he knew what the hell he did.”

The woman quickly paid and left, stopping at a restaurant next door because she wanted the safety of other people being around. She waited until a group of people left the restaurant so she could blend in with them when they walked out.

When she got to the police department, she said, they told her they didn’t know of the business and sent her to the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office on U.S. 280. She said she felt like she was getting the run-around.

Eventually, she went back to the parking lot of the Oasis and called 911 again. This time an officer showed up and took a report. They put her in touch with Jefferson County’s One Place Metro Alabama Family Justice Center, which provides services to victims and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. It is a joint effort by the District Attorney’s Office, Birmingham police, the YWCA and the Crisis Center. She later met with detectives and prosecutors.

It was then she learned, and police confirmed, that Johnson nor his employees are licensed massage therapists in Alabama. Johnson, authorities said, skirted the licensing requirements by claiming to have an exemption for practicing Native American Healing.

The woman said she was shocked to learn it had also happened before. “There’s no excuse,’' she said. “He needed to be off the streets.”

The 39-year-old said she went for her massage in late January.

She, too, told Johnson in was the first time she’d been to a spa for a massage, though she had previously had someone come to her home. She had specifically requested a female massage therapist, but when she arrived Johnson told her he would be doing the massage. He told her it was up to her whether to cover herself with a sheet, but he preferred he didn’t. She complied since he had indicated he worked better without a client using the sheet.

She said the room was very dark and she asked if she could turn on a light. He said no, because Native American Healing works through the candle. She said she was going to turn on the light anyway, but there was no switch on the wall. She had not brought her cell phone with her because she needed the time to relax.

Johnson, she said, told her that the business had just reopened two days earlier because “someone didn’t do what they were supposed to do.”

“Now, I didn’t think that meant he had been arrested for sexual assault,’' she said. “I just thought they needed to clean for COVID.”

She said Johnson told her she was the last client for the day, and she could stay for as long as she wanted. She told him that her kids were in the car and she wanted one hour only. “He said, ‘I’ll ask you again when I finish your feet because I haven’t even gotten to the good part,’’' she said. “I said, ‘Even when you finish my feet, my answer will still be no. One hour is fine.’”

During the massage, she said, he “brushed” her private parts several times. “By this point, I’m holding my breath. I just wasn’t breathing. I just wanted it to be over,’' she said.

He then put his cheek to her cheek and started to breath heavily. He later rested his head on her breasts. “I had to tell myself to breathe because his ear was to my chest and he would know if I wasn’t breathing,’' she said. “There was no massaging going on. It was just gross.”

She said she felt trapped because she didn’t have her phone with her and feared he would harm her worse if she resisted. “My whole thing was if I could just out of there,’' she said. “That’s what I tell my son about dealing with police – you go quietly and make sure you get out OK and if there’s something to be handled, we will handle it later.”

“My fear was that I would be trapped in there with him,’' she said. “And I didn’t have any clothes on so I couldn’t just jump up. I couldn’t even seen where my clothes were.”

When she finally left and went to the car, she realized she’d been in there for two hours. She told her family what happened but didn’t immediately call the police because they weren’t sure anyone would believe her. But she knew what had happened was wrong.

For the next 48 hours, she said, she researched Native American Healing and even called the Alabama Board of Massage Therapy, where she learned Johnson was not a licensed massage therapist. “They told me he wasn’t licensed, and the establishment had just been raided two weeks prior,” she said.

They directed her to call police, which she did. “What was killing me was trying not to say anything about it. I didn’t feel a little bit better until I spoke with the police,’' she said. “I got the massage on a Sunday and I don’t remember Monday through Thursday. I’m not OK.”

She has reached out to a therapist but said the ordeal hasn’t just affected her. Her school-aged son has been having nightmares and now sleeps with her because, “he’s afraid the man is going to come back and get me.”

She said she had almost bought a massage for her godchild as well, and is so thankful she didn’t. “I couldn’t imagine her trying to make sense of what I’m trying to make sense of,’' she said.

She said she, too, is speaking out because she doesn’t want anyone else to endure what she endured. “I will be victorious,’' she said.

Police said the investigation is ongoing and they expect there will be charges for at least two to three more victims. It is a complex investigation, they said, that has taken time to build a strong case.

Johnson was booked into the county lockup Jan. 22 and remains held. So far, police said, no actual rapes have been reported but investigators said the victims’ stories are all eerily similar and none of them know each other. Their only connection, police said, is Oasis.

The 26-year-old victim said she also will be undergoing counseling. Her anxiety has been off the charts, she said, and she has even had suicidal thoughts. “It shocks you and it scares you and it traumatizes you,’' she said. “I’m on medication. I can’t sleep. I have break downs.

“It has still been a struggle. I feel violated,’' she said. “I felt like this man was going to rape and kill me. It’s the worst feeling in the world.”

She said she plans to try to look at the positives from here on out. “Since I reported this, other women have have been helped,’' she said. “I just turned 26. I don’t want to bring this into my new age.”