OC Man Who 'Grinded', Groped Accupressure Client Gets Jail Time
SANTA ANA (CBS) — A Santa Ana man convicted of molesting a client came to his home for accupressure therapy was sentenced on Friday to six months behind bars.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Frank Fasel also ordered Thuan Van Nguyen to register as a sex offender and to serve three years of formal probation after being released from custody.
The maximum jail time Nguyen could have faced was two years. He was convicted July 13 of one misdemeanor count of sexual battery by fraud and two misdemeanor counts of sexual battery.
A 38-year-old woman went to Nguyen's home in Santa Ana on July 3 last year for acupressure therapy. The woman's mother had met Nguyen earlier at a Westminster pharmacy, where he claimed he could help with physical ailments through acupressure therapy, according to prosecutors.
The victim testified that Nguyen told her to take off her blouse, and that he claimed she needed treatment so that her hands and feet would not curl up in the future.
When Nguyen touched the woman's breast over her blouse, the alarmed victim ran out to an adjoining room where her mother was waiting. Testifying last month with the help of an interpreter, she said she did not want the treatment, but her mother convinced her to finish the treatment with Nguyen.
The victim, who choked up and cried during her testimony, said when she took off her blouse, the defendant massaged her body, lifted up her bra and "squeezed hard" on her breast, and then when he could not unzip her pants, asked her to do it.
When the woman undid her pants and pulled them down a bit, Nguyen "grinded" on her groin and got on top of her, the woman testified. She said she turned her face away so she wouldn't smell the breath of Nguyen, who was a smoker.
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