2 more clients accuse Mid-City massage therapist of sexual battery - NOLA.com

[massage]

At least four former clients of Mid-City massage therapist Norman Nail have now accused him of inappropriately touching them during massages, a new warrant for Nail's arrest shows.

Nail, 53, was arrested Tuesday (Nov. 7) and booked on suspicion of two counts of sexual battery after two women separately came forward to New Orleans police. He has already been formally charged by Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office with three counts of sexual battery related to earlier accusations from at least two other women.

Nail's attorney Brad Egenberg in the earlier cases said in December that his client "is both factually and legally innocent of any wrongdoing."

Records from the Louisiana Board of Massage Therapy show Norman's license to practice massage therapy expired in March 2017. In Tuesday's booking documents, Nail's occupation is listed as, "self-employed musician."

One of the new accusers said two or three years ago she went on two occasions to the massage therapy studio Nail operated, Advanced Healing Massage in the 4700 block of Canal Street, after receiving a gift certificate for a massage. He was "appropriate" during the first massage, according to the warrant, sworn by NOPD sex crimes detective Claudia Bruce. During the second visit, however, the woman said, Nail inappropriately touched her breast and her buttocks and used his finger to attempt to penetrate her, all without permission.

The woman told Bruce she did not report the incident at the time but never returned to Nail for a massage. After seeing an article about accusations against Nail on NOLA.com, the warrant states the woman told police, she chose to report her experience "because she did not want any more women to be victimized."

The warrant involving that woman, for one count of sexual battery, was signed by Bruce and her supervisor on Oct. 3 of this year.

In a warrant signed in July of this year, Bruce wrote that a woman who was a client of Nail's for two years reported that he touched her inappropriately during her last appointment with him in November 2013. The woman told police, the warrant states, that for about two years "she did not have any inappropriate experiences" with Nail, adding she first started getting massages from Nail at his residence.

Then on her last session, the warrant states, he used his fingers to inappropriately touch her.

"The victim stated that she immediately got up and stated, 'I am not sure what you are doing, but please stop; we are ending this session,'" the warrant states. The woman told police that Nail responded, "'I'm sorry, my hands guide me and they tell me what to do.'"

The woman told Bruce she did not get another massage from Nail because Nail "removed her trust," the warrant states.

Earlier allegations

Arrest documents connected to Nail's December 2016 arrest stated two NOPD sex crimes detectives were conducting independent investigations of Nail and then realized they had the same suspect. One woman accused Nail of violating her genitals during a massage in December 2015. A second woman made similar accusations of improper touching during a massage on Sept. 27, 2016. After DNA samples were collected from Nail in each case, a warrant for his arrest was approved on Dec. 13.

One of those accusers said she stopped the massage short when the inappropriate touching occurred, and that Nail told her he "was only trying to read the signals in her body."

A third count of sexual battery was added as his charges were accepted for prosecution in May, court records show, indicating either another accuser had come forward since Nail's arrest or authorities developed evidence of an additional alleged offense.

Norman was previously out on bond on the previous charges, but Orleans Parish Magistrate Commissioner Albert Thibodeaux set Norman's bond at $10,000 for the new charges. Online jail records indicated he was still in jail as of Thursday morning (Nov. 9). The commissioner appointed the Orleans Public Defender's office to represent Nail during his first appearance hearing on Tuesday afternoon.

Nail's next court hearing on the new charges is scheduled for Dec. 5. He has a bond hearing scheduled in his other case on Dec. 1 in Orleans Criminal District Judge Darryl Derbigny's court. Private attorney Stavros Panagoulopoulos is representing him in that case.

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