Massage Therapists Say Inappropriate Behavior Rare

By Alison Dirr
Stevens Point Journal
December 16, 2014

http://www.stevenspointjournal.com/story/news/crime/2014/12/15/massage-therapists-say-inappropriate-behavior-rare/20459623/

A priest of the Diocese of La Crosse is being removed from public ministry after an incident in which he is accused of asking for sex favors at a Wausau massage parlor.

McGarty, 89, was given a municipal citation in Wausau on Thursday after a massage therapist told police that McGarty had demanded that she rub oil on his genitals, according to the disorderly conduct citation. The municipal code recommends a fine of $250 for that offense, but it was unclear from the citation whether McGarty had paid a fine as of Monday.

The therapist was working on McGarty's leg during a massage when he lifted a blanket around his groin area and told her to rub oil on his genitals. The therapist told police that she refused and ran out of the room. As she was leaving, he yelled a derogatory term after her, according to the citation.

"We are saddened to learn of a recent situation involving Monsignor Bernard McGarty, a priest of the Diocese of La Crosse," the diocese said in a statement issued Monday. "According to diocesan policy as stated in the pastoral letter On Sexual Misconduct for the Diocese of La Crosse, Monsignor McGarty, from this moment forward, is not to have any public ministry while this current situation is investigated."

McGarty, who was dressed in full robes, told police that he was in town for a funeral and was headed back to La Crosse that night.

As the diocese was proceeding with discipline and the citation was being processed Monday, two Wausau massage therapists told Daily Herald Media that such incidents are rare in central Wisconsin spas. The incident did not happen at either of the two spas mentioned in this story.

According to two Wausau massage business owners, inappropriate behavior by clients is rare.(Photo: Dan Young/Daily Herald Media)

Korine Whiting, owner of Time for You, said in the 10 years she has been in business, only two people had called her seeming like they wanted "something more" than a massage. The callers asked such questions as how old she was and what she looked like, she said, which were clear warning signs.

"I was like, 'no,'" she said. "That's not where this is going."

Debra Buch, the owner and spa manager at Dayspring Health Spa, similarly said that in more than two decades in the field she, too, had experienced only a couple incidents of inappropriate behavior by clients. Today she takes time to ensure that clients understand the boundaries as a way to ensure her massage therapists do not leave her business and guests feel safe.

"Dayspring is a safe place for them to work in, and I want to make sure they know that and they don't have to put up with anything like that," she said of her employees.

She said she has told clients they could not return after they behaved inappropriately. But that doesn't happen often.

"Once in a great while there might be inappropriateness, like maybe somebody grabbing a therapist's hand or something like that," she said. "But seriously, if that happens maybe once in five years, that would be it."