A Roseville massage therapist accused of sexually assaulting a longtime client will have to spend a year in jail and register as a sex-offender.
Ramsey County District Judge Timothy Mulrooney handed down the sentence last week, nearly two months after Gary Lee Sarppo admitted what he did at a plea hearing held in the case in early June.
Sarppo also received a four-year stayed prison sentence, which will only be executed if he fails to abide by the terms of his probation, which include receiving therapy for sex offenders and no longer working as a masseuse.
He was arrested at his massage practice — Massage Rejuvenation — in Roseville after one of his clients told police last September that he’d sexually assaulted her during a massage.
The woman was about 45-minutes into the session when Sarppo made the unusual request of asking her to flip onto her back, court documents say.
That’s when he digitally penetrated her for about 30 seconds, the woman reported to police.
Shocked and in pain, the woman started to sit up, prompting Sarppo to ask her if she wanted him to stop.
When she said he did, he resumed his regular massage techniques before whispering in her ear, “What happens in this room stays in this room,” court documents say.
Sarppo apologized to the woman for his conduct at his sentencing last week.
She said via email Wednesday that she hopes he means it.
The woman, who asked not to be identified, also had a chance to address the court at the hearing, an experience she described afterward as “empowering.”
In contrast to what many other victims report enduring when they report sexual assaults, she said her experience with everyone in the judicial system — detectives, attorneys, nurses, crisis counselors, victim advocates and judges — has been notably positive.
“(Everyone) who (has) made decisions in this case (has) heard my voice, believed me, and validated my experience,” she wrote in a statement. “Each person I have met has made me feel valued and helped me rebuild some of the security that was lost when I was assaulted.”
She also wants to help people understand that victims have different responses to sexual assaults, she said, and urged members of the public to refrain from judgment.
In her case, she confronted Sarppo as she left her appointment that day, and reported it to police two days later.
“Many people don’t know that fight/flight and freeze are all physiological responses to trauma. We don’t get to choose the response,” she said. “It makes me sad when I see people being shamed on social media for responses that are out of our control.”
Sarppo’s massage license was revoked in February by the Minnesota Department of Health’s Health Occupations Program Health Regulation Division.
In its order, the state department noted that two other former clients reported “unwanted sexual contact” by Sarppo after the first victim came forward.
No charges were filed against him in those cases.
Sarppo’s attorney, Hillary Parsons, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on his case.
Victims of sexual assault can seek help by contacting Ramsey County’s SOS Sexual Assault Services program.