Massage therapist Sally Butts voluntarily surrendered her license to practice massage therapy in Florida, which was accepted and adjudged as a discipline on February 3, 2023, by the Board of Massage Therapy. This final order was in response to a disciplinary action brought by the Florida Department of Health after a report was made alleging sexual misconduct during a massage Butts performed while working at Hand and Stone Massage and Facial Spa in St. Augustine, FL. By surrendering her license, it prohibits any further administrative action regarding this case. Butts has been licensed as a massage therapist in Florida since September 2010.
According to the Department of Health, an administrative complaint claimed Butts allegedly sexually abused a 41-year-old male during a 60-minute massage at Hand and Stone on March 2, 2022. The claim states during the massage, Butts touched the male client inappropriately by placing her hands inside the client’s underwear, touching his groin area and the area around his buttocks. It also states that Butss purposely lifted the client’s elastic on underwear repeatedly, which caused quick stings. The report also says Butts did not cover the client properly and that she opened the door at one time to speak to an employee, leaving the client exposed. The client reported the incident to Hand and Stone the same day.
Sally Butts had a previous complaint made against her in 2021, stating that she treated a client for a lymphatic drainage massage on September 2020 to help the patient with Lyme Disease and seizures. It claims Butts taped crystals, stones, and/or beads to the patient’s head and neck as treatment. This practice and treating or attempting to treat health conditions of that nature is beyond the scope permitted by law for a licensed massage therapist.
This is just one of the many disturbing trends 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. Sally Butts allegedly 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.
Horowitz Law has filed numerous sexual assault lawsuits against massage therapists on behalf of clients who were sexually assaulted during massages at Massage establishments, salons, spas, and resorts. If you have been a victim of sexual assault or sexual battery during a massage, or if you know someone who has, please contact our law firm at 888-283-9922 or e-mail sexual abuse lawyer Adam Horowitz at [email protected] for a free consultation.