CEDAR CITY, Utah, Oct. 14, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — A massage therapist working at a Cedar City massage parlor has been arrested for investigation of the alleged aggravated sexual assault of his female client.
Tyler Trost Braun, 42, was booked into the Iron County Jail Friday for investigation of the second-degree felony, said to have occurred on Oct. 8.
“Multiple female victims have come forward to report Tyler Trost Braun as having sexually assaulted them while they were clients at a local Cedar City massage parlor,” says Braun’s probable cause statement, filed by an officer of the Cedar City Police Department.
“These women reported that they went to Travis for a massage as he was a licensed massage therapist working at this facility. One of these adult women reported that during her massage Travis touched her inappropriately” on her breasts, buttocks and crotch area.
“She was very scared during the massage and stated that she froze and was unable to prevent him from continuing with this,” Braun’s affidavit says.
Police arranged a phone call between the reporting woman and Braun, the statement says. During the call, she asked Braun why he gave her a sensual massage when she did not ask for one.
“He stated that he guessed that he thought she wanted this, and he stated that he was sorry.”
The woman asked why Braun touched her crotch, “and he said ‘I guess I’m delusional, I thinks that’s probably why it happened,'” the affidavit says.
The woman said the touch “did not feel like it was a mistake. Tyler replied by stating ‘Uh yeah, yeah, there’s no denying it was anything but a sexual act it’s not like you touch there and it’s non-sexual. Once you touch there it’s sexual,” his probable cause statement says.
Braun said during the recorded call that “It’s really hard to smell someone to be that close to them,” adding “sometimes giving a massage there’s chemistry in the room.”
During the call, Braun also said the woman was not the first client he had touched in that manner.
“He stated that he didn’t start with her. He talked about touching other women in a sexual manner in Vermont as well when he was working as a massage therapist there. Tyler ended this phone conversation by reading an entry to her that he wrote in his personal journal where he stated that he had a phone call with a former client who thought that he was inappropriate with his touch in the massage. He also read from the entry that this should not have happened and that his behavior should never cause women to sense fear with him.”
At the end of the recorded call, Braun “stated that it was an honor to talk to her on the phone and he stated ‘I’m at your mercy,” his affidavit says.
Braun was interviewed later at the Cedar City Police Station and taken into custody. The journal he read from was located at his residence. Braun was ordered held without bail.
