Massage therapist sentenced to prison for photographing clients

A 47-year-old massage therapist was sentenced to five to 20 years in prison for secretly photographing his clients’ genitals during their massages.

Dwayne Thurmond in September 2010 was arrested on 48 charges. In June, as part of a deal with prosecutors, he pleaded guilty to one count of felony attempted sexual assault and two counts each of misdemeanor open or gross lewdness and misdemeanor capturing the image of the private area of another. The remaining counts were dropped.

Earlier this week, Judge Jerry Tao sentenced Thurmond to prison and ordered him to register as a sex offender upon release and remain under lifetime supervision.

He was given credit for already serving about two years in jail.

Las Vegas police initially were contacted by one of Thurmond’s clients who noticed several flashes of light during a massage.

The woman said she immediately knew she was being photographed, confronted Thurmond and left without paying for the session.

Later, the woman met with police and called Thurmond from her cellphone as a detective listened.

The woman angrily confronted Thurmond about the pictures. Thurmond apologized.

Based on the phone call, police obtained a search warrant for Thurmond’s apartment and office and seized phones, hard drives and computers.

Thurmond, who once operated “D Mobile Massage,” often doing massages at his client’ homes but also working out of a small office, was found to have thousands of photographs of female clients’ genitalia on his computer, according to court documents.

One of the folders on Thurmond’s computer was titled with the woman’s name. The folder contained nine nude photographs of the woman.

Contact reporter Francis McCabe at fmccabe@review journal.com or 702-380-1039.