Christian Mieles, a massage therapist at a Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa in Boynton Beach, surrendered his license to practice massage therapy in Florida, which was accepted and adjudged as a discipline on October 3, 2022, by the Florida Board of Massage Therapy.
Following a disciplinary action brought by the Florida Department of Health after his arrest and sexual battery charges in December 2021, Mieles agreed to cease practicing immediately and not re-apply for a massage therapist license in Florida. Mieles has been a licensed massage therapist in Florida since 2017.
This Final Order of discipline was entered following an arrest on sexual battery charges. According to Mieles' arrest affidavit, Mieles was arrested in 2021. Mieles was assigned to perform a 60-minute massage on a female client, in which he allegedly began massaging her glutes, an area she asked him to avoid. Mieles then asked her if it felt good, and she replied yes, thinking he meant the massage as a whole. Mieles allegedly removed her draping, exposing her underwear and bikini area. He massaged her buttocks, thighs, and inner thighs. Mieles then allegedly grabbed the victim's ankles and opened her legs very wide which revealed her inner, upper thighs and bikini-styled black underwear. He asked the victim to flip over on her back. She noticed the lights were dim and that she was once again exposed with no draping. Mieles continued to rub her legs and moved the victim's underwear to the side, touching her genitals, and opened up her vagina. The victim screamed "no," and Mieles said that he was sorry. She then also noticed he only had one glove still on, not both. The massage ended there. Upon questioning, Mieles admitted to the police that he massaged the client's glutes even though she told him not to massage that area. He also said that if he touched her vagina that it was a mistake.
The disciplinary order continues a long and disturbing trend of sexual misconduct by massage therapists statewide. Under Florida law, massage therapists occupy positions of trust, and all sexual activity between the massage therapist and clients is strictly prohibited. Christian Mieles violated the massage therapist-patient relationship. A massage therapist may not use his relationship with a client to induce or attempt to induce the patient to engage or to engage or attempt to engage the patient in sexual activity outside the scope of practice or the scope of generally accepted examination or treatment of the patient.
Attorney Adam Horowitz has filed numerous sexual misconduct claims against massage therapists on behalf of clients who were inappropriately touched during a massage or spa service. A massage therapist is never permitted to have sexual contact with a client. If you have been a sexual assault or sexual battery victim during a massage or spa, or if you know someone who has, please contact our law firm at 888-283-9922 or email sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz today.