MI- Massage or sexual assault at nail salon?

5-30-2008 Michigan:

KENTWOOD, Mich. (WOOD) -- Was it a massage or sexual assault?

That is the question some are asking about a Kentwood nail salon.

Best Nails Spa in a strip mall on 60 Street in Kentwood advertises for manicures and pedicures. It is a place Cheryl has gone for years...until now.

She doesn't want her identity disclosed, but she talks about another service she received from a manicurist - a massage.

"He started going into areas he shouldn't have," she told 24 Hour News 8, "and I became very uncomfortable. He massaged my breast area for several minutes on each one."

She says he got close to her genital area.

She filed a police report against Anthony Tran, a licensed manicurist who runs the spa with his wife. He pleaded no contest to disorderly obscene conduct in the case last month.

The case is closed but the report raises questions about licensing.

Now city officials say they are looking into it all because Tran shouldn't have been doing massages at all.

24 Hour News 8 asked Tran if he ever touched the breast area of a woman.

"No," he answered.

It is a different story than what he told detectives.

"I asked him if he had touched this female/victim's breast or genital area. Anthony stated yes...he then replied that while massaging he often checks for breast cancer. He does this as a service to the customer," according to the police report.

Tran also told police that he will massage breasts as part of a massage.

"No, that's different. I don't want to go into detail," he told 24 Hour News 8.

Tran said it's his word versus hers.

It is a frustration since the victim never complained to him and even tipped him for all the services afterward.

Both factors, the prosecutor's office says, that played into the final charge.

"If somebody told me this story I would have said, 'Why didn't you fight him off? Why didn't you get up and leave the room?' But when you're in that situation you literally freeze and become numb," said Cheryl.

She was numb at first, but she doesn't want to be silent. She is the only one on record to come forward against Tran but she wants other women to have courage to do the same if they have a similar story. ..News Source.. byEmily Zangaro