Woodland massage therapist gets maximum prison sentence for sexual assault
A Yolo County judge sentenced a Woodland massage therapist to 15 years in prison for sexually assaulting several women over seven years before one of them notified police, prosecutors said Monday.
Yolo Superior Court Judge David Reed handed down the maximum prison sentence for Fermin Robles Perez, the Yolo County District Attorney’s Office announced Monday in a news release.
Perez, 55, of Woodland was convicted in October and sentenced Friday, according to court records. As part of his sentence, Reed ordered Perez to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
A jury found Perez guilty on multiple felony charges, including sexual penetration by fear or duress, sexual penetration of an unconscious person, sexual battery by fraud and sexual battery by restraint, prosecutors said. The jurors found Perez not guilty on four other sexual assault charges and were unable to reach a verdict on 15 additional charges against him.
The first woman went to the Woodland Police Department on July 1, 2020, to report she had been sexually assaulted by Perez during a massage. The police started an investigation and announced Perez’s arrest two weeks later in a news release, urging other victims to come forward.
Prosecutors said eight other women reported similar stories, accusing Perez of sexual assaulting them during massages at his business and at his Woodland home from 2013 through 2020.
Six of the women testified in front of a Yolo County Grand Jury in April, and all nine testified during Perez’s trial, and some of them spoke in court during his sentencing hearing last week.
“We are grateful for the survivors who came forward and shared their experiences both at the trial and at sentencing,” District Attorney Jeff Reisig said in the news release. “Because of their bravery, justice was served for them and the other women who were victimized by Perez.”
