Houston-Area Massage Envy Lawsuit Demonstrates a Grim National Pattern.
The Houston cases are representative of what’s going on all across the country, year after year, at the largest massage therapy franchise in America. That’s why we’re still talking about it. Plaintiffs say Massage Envy didn’t properly screen therapists and turned a blind eye when grievous sexual assault incidents were reported.
Jane Doe 1 & 2 came forward in July 2022 within two weeks of each other, not knowing the other and without knowing the other’s experience but assaulted by the same man, Jose (“Joe”) Barajas Franco at the same location in Conroe.
Jane Doe 3 later reported going for massages every few weeks for 12 years at a Massage Envy near the Houston Galleria after she was diagnosed with lupus, a disorder that causes painful joint swelling.
But all that changed in February 2022. Jane 3’s regular female therapist was unavailable, so she wound up with a male in his 20s. “You don’t know if you’re going to be raped or how far it’s going to go,” she told NBC reporters.2