From CBS Chicago: Legislation protecting Illinois customers receiving professional massages from sexual assaults and harassment is now on its way to Gov. JB Pritzker for his signature.
CBS News Chicago Investigators has been reporting this issue since 2022, including on state loopholes that have left customers vulnerable to sexual assaults and abuse at the hands of licensed massage therapists, and highlighted efforts to put more protections in place in the industry.
House Bill 5387, which includes amendments to the Massage Therapy Practice Act, makes it easier for the state to immediately pull the license of any massage therapist convicted of certain crimes. In the past, it has taken months to get licenses revoked.
Under the bill, massage therapists convicted of crimes including prostitution, rape, sexual misconduct, involuntary sexual servitude of a minor, battery of a patient, and any crime that subjects the a licensee to comply with the Sexual Offender Registration Act will have their massage therapy license revoked immediately.
“It will be an automatic revocation of their license. There would not be any more postponing, waiting around for an independent investigation,” said State Rep. Tom Weber (R-Lake Villa).
CBS News Chicago Investigators previously reported on cases in which victims who have sued massage chains and massage therapists for sexual battery and assault have been let down by loopholes in Illinois law that let the therapists keep their licenses.
“After everything I’ve gone through – I have gone through 14 hearings, hours of interviews, two years of my life – and this man who’s been convicted of a sex crime is still a licensed massage therapist in the state of Illinois?” Christine Schirtzinger told us in 2022 after she filed a lawsuit against Massage Envy for her own sexual battery.
James “Rob” Garret pled guilty to reduced charges of attempted criminal sexual abuse in her case. He had to register as a sex offender and agree to stop working as a massage therapist, but he technically held his license and was in public good standing in Illinois for more than seven months.
State Rep. Weber is a co-sponsor of the bill now on Gov. Pritzker’s desk, and he saw that original reporting from CBS News Chicago Investigators on Schirtzinger’s case.
“The fact that Illinois would not take his license away immediately was shocking,” he said.
Weber has made multiple legislative efforts on this issue.
To read the complete CBS Chicago story – Click Here.
For more information about House Bill 5387 – Click Here.