Hamilton massage therapist's victim shut out of court, interview played at hearing -...

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TRENTON >> A prominent New Jersey victim rights lawyer said a judge went too far by barring a victim from a courtroom Thursday at a hearing for a former Hamilton massage therapist accused of sexual misconduct.

Prosecutors did not challenge Judge Robert Billmeier’s decision to shut the victim out of the hearing, which was intended to protect Wayne Watts’ rights to a fair trial.

But a well-known New Jersey victim rights lawyer who chaired the victims compensation board and runs a law clinic dedicated to protecting victims’ rights in the courtroom said the judge’s ruling, known as a sequestration order, was an overreach.

“This isn’t just some technicality in a criminal case,” said Richard Pompelio, who runs the New Jersey Crime Victims’ Law Center. “This is an important issue. The whole idea of keeping the victim out of the courtroom is the essence of victims’ rights. … Do I believe the victim’s constitutional rights were denied? I would say, ‘Yes.’ I don’t think she was properly sequestered. I don’t think there was sufficient justification for it.”

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Another lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey said the judge acted properly by preventing the 41-year-old woman from sitting in on a Miranda hearing for Watts, the former owner of Gentle Strength Massage Therapy in Hamilton.

Letting the victim, who would likely testify at trial, into the courtroom for the hearing could “open up a parade of horribles,” said Alex Shalom, an attorney for the ACLU-NJ.

“I like Richard and respect him, but I think there is a real possibility of taint here,” he said. “It may well be there’s not a court in the state that’s going to say that [what the judge did] was improper. Ultimately, you want to preserve the integrity of the judicial proceeding.”

Watts is accused of sexually touching seven women during massages over the years.

Although he was never licensed or certified to practice massage therapy in the state, Watts’ alleged conduct went undetected for years after a prior police investigation in 2011 was closed without charges being filed.

A second Hamilton Police investigation in 2015 led to Watts being charged with a dozen counts of sexual touching after another woman came forward complaining that he brushed her breast, straddled her on the massage table and made her uncomfortable during a massage in 2014.

Watts has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is expected to take his case to trial.

A taped interview was shown at Thursday’s hearing, which was held to determine whether Watts’ statement to authorities was voluntary.

Watts’ attorney, John Hartmann, has claimed that statement was not voluntary because Watts did not know until the interview was almost over that he had performed a massage on the lead detective, Brit Olsen, more than a decade before.

Shut out


The 41-year-old woman, who told her story in a cover story in The Trentonian, was in court Thursday to attend Watts’ Miranda hearing.

Instead of listening to the testimony of two detectives and watching Watts’ 40-minute interview with authorities — when he discussed his relationship with clients, his wife and a perceived double standard as a male massage therapist — the woman was forced to sit outside the courtroom.

She left the courthouse frustrated, saying she felt staying till the end of the hearing was a “waste of time” since she was not allowed in. She softened her stance later in the day after she spoke to Assistant Prosecutor Katie Magee about why she wasn’t allowed in the courtroom.

“Technically, at the end of the day, I should have been allowed in there,” the victim told The Trentonian. “It doesn’t make sense to bar me out of the room. For that judge to do that was a little bit odd. I’d like to know what’s behind it. I wish I had my own attorney to point me in the right direction.”

A spokeswoman from Magee’s office, Casey DeBlasio, explained that Magee did not oppose the judge’s order because, “We want to do everything possible to preserve the integrity of our case and not give the defense the argument that the testimony of our witnesses was tainted.”

The woman said initially she was outraged about not being let in the courtroom. Now she says she feels prosecutors may have been protecting her.

“At this point, I gotta believe somebody,” she said. “She’s the person with the law degree. What am I gonna say?”

Hearing


Olsen, a retired detective who worked for the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office, testified as the hearing as did Hamilton Detective Daniel Inman.

Inman interviewed a woman who accused Watts of groping during a massage in 2011.

Inman interviewed Watts about the allegation but he did not admit inappropriately touching the woman.

He was never charged because the woman did not want to get into a “he-said-she-said” battle with the massage therapist, Inman testified. She asked the detective not to pursue charges.

Inman said that a second investigation was opened into Watts after he was approached by investigators from the Attorney General’s Division of Consumer Affairs in 2015.

The AG’s investigators spoke to the 41-year-old woman after she complained about Watts to the board of massage.

Her allegations were referred to Hamilton detectives.

Shortly after meeting with the AG’s investigators, Inman interviewed the woman.

Olsen found prior complaints on Yelp, an online forum where customers can rate businesses, and contacted other women who left negative reviews about Watts.

Olsen and Inman interviewed Watts in March 2015, after he waived his rights.

They peppered him with questions about his business, massage techniques, clientele and relationship with his wife.

Using words like “point of origin to the point of insertion” to describe his craft, Watts said he had performed more than 12,000 sports and Swedish massages, many on repeat clients, over his career without any problems.

When he was confronted with specific allegations, Watts was taken aback by the accusations.

He attributed negative reviews to competitors and told detectives he never intended to touch clients in a sexual way. He said he would accept punishment for making “mistakes” and offered to close his business over the allegations.

“I will officially end my massage career,” he said. “Even with that said, I’m willing, if they want to go forward, I will accept it. That’s just the way I was raised. … The handwriting is on the wall. I’ve helped people. But I’ve obviously hurt people, not intentionally.”

Inman told the massage therapist he made a similar promise when he was interviewed in 2011.

While telling detectives he prided himself on being open and forthcoming, Watts described perceived double standards he faced as a man in the “female-dominated” industry and how he respected clients’ boundaries.

“You are open to all kinds of accusations, open to all kinds of double standards,” he said. “It’s very, very hard if you’re a male.”

Watts said male clients who are “accidentally touched, it’s not a big deal. They’re not gonna jump off the table. They’re not gonna call the Hamilton police, ‘This female massage therapist brushed by my genitals.’”

Watts sometimes paused to collect his thoughts on follow-up questions and asked detectives to repeat certain questions.

“Most of my clients they know what I’m doing,” Watts said. “I’m doing it in a professional way. I don’t linger. … Have I had people who have said to me, ‘It’s getting kinda of close.’ Yes, it is close.”

Olsen asked the massage therapist to go over some “absolute no-no’s.”

He said he avoided touching women’s “nipples,” and turned down female clients who “ask me to work my chest like you work a man’s chest.”

Texts


When the conversation turned to the 41-year-old woman, Watts said he got the impression she was not “comfortable with my massage.”

He texted her after the massage encouraging her to come back. He sent clients postcards in the past advertising his services but found it cheaper and convenient to text them.

Olsen said she spoke to two women who found the texts “creepy” and thought Watts was pushy.

Olsen questioned Watts about an overture he allegedly made to a client when he said he wanted to “make sure you leave happy. I feel the tension there, and I want to make sure you feel good.”

Watts said the woman misinterpreted the statement.

Olsen said if Watts told her the same thing she would have thought, “What the f---. It would [sound] like we had oral sex.”

Watts admitted he “probably [took] some liberties there with return clients.”

He understood clients’ openness to having their glutes massaged if they showed up “wearing granny underpants. That means no glutes.”

Olsen burst out laughing.

The interview turned serious when Olsen asked Watts if he got sexual gratification from giving massages.

Watts stumbled over the question, describing how he was “amazed by the beauty of people, male and female.”

Olsen told him he evaded the question.

“I’m being honest,” Watts said. “I don’t’ want to say, ‘Oh, no.’ That would be impossible.”

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