Former Red Deer massage found guilty of 2022 sexual assault - Red Deer Advocate

[Paul Cowley]

A former Red Deer massage therapist has been convicted of sexual assault for the second time in a year.

Brian Victor Moore, 53, was found guilty of a single count of sexual assault by a jury on Friday after a four-day Red Deer Court of King's Bench trial this week. The jury began deliberating on Thursday afternoon and the verdict came early Friday afternoon.

A 17-year-old patient went to RCMP shortly after being treated by Moore on Feb. 23, 2022 at a Red Deer chiropractic office. Following an investigation, Moore was charged in December 2022.

After charging Moore, RCMP released his mugshot and asked if any others had information on similar instances to come forward. Following that appeal, a woman told police Moore had repeatedly touched her breasts under the draping sheet during treatment in 2015 when she was 32 years old.

Moore was charged with sexual assault and found guilty in May 2024 following a trial before Red Deer Court of King's Bench Justice Eleanor Funk. Last September, Moore was sentenced to three months in prison, to be served on weekends.

The judge rejected a defence request for a conditional sentence with no prison time, saying the assault left Moore's victim with ongoing feelings of shame and embarrassment that had affected all aspects of her life, including her role as a parent.

Moore will be sentenced for his second sexual assault conviction on July 14 by Red Deer Court of King's Bench Justice Paul Belzil.

In the trial that began Monday, the eight-woman, four-man jury heard testimony from the victim that she was wearing only underwear and socks under towels when Moore performed a full-body massage. He was well known to the victim and treated her many times in the past, often to help her recovery from injuries she suffered in three serious vehicle collisions in the past two years.

During the nearly hour-long treatment, the victim said Moore touched and licked her genitals. She was too stunned to call out to others who were in the clinic, including her mother. The assault triggered what she described as an out-of-body experience.

After leaving the clinic she told her father about the incident. To preserve evidence, she did not go to the bathroom, wash her hands, shower or change her underwear until she was taken to hospital by her mother.

A nurse using a sexual assault evidence kit collecting DNA samples. A swab taken from the victim's genitals provided DNA later matched to Moore.

Testifying in his own defence on Thursday, Moore denied that he sexually assaulted the teen and suggested DNA could have been transferred to her body from his hands during the massage.

At the time of the assault, the father-of-five had been a massage therapist for nearly 30 years. He is no longer a massage therapist and works in metal fabrication and runs the family cattle operation.

Defence lawyer Simon Renouf requested that a psychological report on his client be included as part of his sentencing submissions on July 14, when the Crown prosecutor will also make submissions on what should be considered an appropriate sentence given the circumstances.