​NEWS RELEASE  

FROM: 
Karyn Sinunu, Assistant District Attorney   CONTACT PERSON:
Pinaki Chakravorty, Deputy District Attorney
Central Misdemeanors Unit
(408) 792-2623      For release on August 20, 2004     MASSAGE THERAPIST AT SARATOGA SPA SENTENCED FOR SEXUAL BATTERY   On May 13, 2004, Kenneth Edin Murphy, formerly a massage therapist at Harmonie Day Spa in Saratoga, was convicted of four counts of misdemeanor sexual battery for acts committed while performing massages on clients.   The four charges arose from complaints made by three separate victims.  Each victim alleged that during the course of the massage, Mr. Murphy touched her in an intimate part of her body without her consent.  Mr. Murphy denied touching two of the women in an intimate part and acknowledged some touching of the third woman, but denied it was of a sexual nature.  The jury found that Mr. Murphy touched all of the victims for the purpose of his sexual arousal and without their consent.    Mr. Murphy faced a maximum sentence of two years in the county jail and a fine of $8,000.  Today, he was sentenced by the Honorable Rodney Stafford in Department 50 of the Superior Court of California, Santa Clara County.  Mr. Murphy received three years of informal probation, a total of seven months in the county jail, and lifetime registration as a sexual offender under section 290 of the California Penal Code.  He was ordered to stay away from the victims and to relinquish his practice as a massage therapist.  For his jail sentence, Mr. Murphy was deemed eligible for all work release programs except electronic monitoring.   ###