A Roseville massage therapist convicted of sexually assaulting female clients was sentenced Tuesday to a year in the Ramsey County workhouse.
Brandon L. Palmer, 32, was also given 10 years' probation that if violated will trigger a 6½-year prison term.
Palmer was convicted by jurors in Ramsey County District Court in April of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct. He pleaded guilty in May to three felony counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct involving three cases. Three counts of fifth-degree criminal sexual conduct were dismissed.
As part of the plea agreement, three other cases against Palmer were dismissed.
According to courtroom testimony and a criminal complaint, a female client pulled away when she felt Palmer's penis, but Palmer pulled her arm toward him and pressed his genitals into her hand during a session at Serene Body Therapy.
Female clients said that Palmer forced them to touch his penis, and that he touched their genitals. The women testified that they were too afraid to fight back for fear that he would hurt them further.
Palmer will be required to register as a sex offender, undergo sex offender treatment and abstain from working as a massage therapist during probation.
Chao Xiong
