EVERETT — A former masseur is facing up to six years in prison after a jury on Thursday found him guilty of sexually assaulting a patient.
Jurors convicted Steven Lee Cook, 64, of indecent liberties with forcible compulsion, a felony. The jury acquitted him of second-degree rape.
Cook, of Edmonds, is scheduled to be sentenced next month. He faces between four and nearly six years behind bars. His release from prison ultimately will be up to the state’s Indeterminate Sentence Review Board. Cook will have to convince the board that he is not a danger to commit any new sex offenses. He must register as a sex offender once he’s free.
Police arrested Cook in July after a woman, 43, reported that the masseur held her down and touched her genitals during a massage at Lynnwood Urgent Care Chiropractic.
She had received three massages from him before the July 6 incident. The woman reported that those treatments were professional and similar to massages she had from other therapists.
The woman testified that the last massage began normally but Cook moved quickly to her buttocks. After he assaulted her, she attempted to get up from the table but Cook pushed on her lower back. She told him to stop. The woman testified that Cook kissed her thigh.
She kicked at him and Cook left the room. The woman sat against the door as she pulled on her clothes. The woman said as she was leaving the building Cook asked her out, and also asked her to forgive him.
The next day he called the woman six times, again asking her out on a date and asking her forgiveness. The woman reported the incident to police.
Cook denied sexually assaulting the woman. He said there could have been “accidental” touching.
Cook, a former truck driver, was first licensed as a massage therapist in January. He worked at clinics in Lynnwood, Marysville and Federal Way.
His license expired in May, two months before the assault, state Department of Health records show.
The health department launched an investigation regarding Cook’s license following his arrest. Cook was convicted of indecent exposure in 1972 in California. He also was convicted in 2002 of disorderly conduct.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463, hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley
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