A 34-year-old massage therapist admitted in Dakota County District Court that he sexually assaulted four clients at his Eagan studio over a span of roughly 15 months, even after his city license to practice had already expired. Johnny Le, of Richfield, pleaded guilty on September 3 to one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct and three counts of fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, and agreed to a 10-year prison sentence as part of the deal.
Le operated JLE Massage Therapy out of the 4600 block of Nicols Road in Eagan, according to the Minnesota Star Tribune, whose reporter Paul Walsh detailed the case. Le was issued a massage therapy license in February 2024, but city spokeswoman Sara Horwath said that license expired on June 30, 2024, and was never renewed — meaning he continued taking clients as an unlicensed operator for months afterward.
A Pattern Stretching Back to 2023
The earliest assault detailed in the case dates to November 29, 2023, when Le offered to perform an in-home massage for $400 and, during the session, touched a woman's genitalia without consent, per the Star Tribune's reporting. Months later, on May 4, 2024, he sexually assaulted another woman during a full-body massage, according to the same reporting.
The most serious of the four incidents occurred on December 20, 2024, when Le sexually assaulted a woman in an assault that included various sex acts and intercourse twice, the newspaper reported. The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension later matched a DNA sample from that woman to Le. Then on February 11, 2025, Le groped a woman in Eagan and tried to force her to touch him sexually — after which he reportedly apologized to her for “crossing a line” and offered her a refund.
How the Case Came Together
The third victim reported an assault to police on December 20, 2024, while charges were filed in March 2025, and Dakota County District Court issued a nationwide arrest warrant for Le shortly after, according to a Bring Me The News report, which noted Le had initially been charged by summons in 2024 and posted bond in February 2025 before surrendering following the warrant. The outlet also reported that at least two of the victims had booked appointments with Le through Groupon, and that state filings showed his business, J. Le Massage Therapy LLC, was registered from October 23, 2023, to January 17, 2025.
An additional victim came forward only after seeing coverage of the initial charges. Reporting by Patch showed that a subsequent accuser contacted the Eagan Police Department after reading local news stories and social media posts about the sexual misconduct charges filed against Le in 2024 and early 2025. Eagan police and Dakota County prosecutors had repeatedly urged potential victims to come forward during the investigation.
Minnesota's Licensing Gap
The case has drawn attention to a regulatory blind spot in Minnesota, which is one of only four states without a statewide mandatory licensing board for massage therapists, according to the American Massage Therapy Association. Oversight instead falls to local ordinances like Eagan's, which requires therapists to obtain a license through the City Clerk after passing a criminal background check and submitting certified training transcripts, along with Minnesota Statutes Chapter 146A, which governs complementary health practitioners through a client bill of rights rather than direct licensing.
In May, the Minnesota Legislature passed House File 3825, creating an optional statewide registration framework for massage and Asian bodywork therapists under the Minnesota Department of Health. That system is not set to take effect until July 1, 2028, per the same trade association's reporting, meaning it would not have applied to Le's case.
Legal Fallout and Sentencing
Under Minnesota law, the charges against Le stem from what the state defines as a “prohibited occupational relationship,” a statutory category covering nonconsensual sexual penetration or contact occurring immediately before, during, or after a paid massage or bodywork session, according to FindLaw. Third-degree criminal sexual conduct applies to nonconsensual penetration under that relationship, while fourth-degree applies to nonconsensual contact, according to the law firm of Lundgren & Johnson.
Third-degree criminal sexual conduct carries a maximum statutory penalty of up to 15 years in prison and a $30,000 fine, while fourth-degree carries up to 10 years and a $20,000 fine, per the same firm's analysis of Minnesota Statutes § 609.344 and § 609.345. Le's agreed-upon 10-year sentence falls within that statutory range; he is expected to serve about 6.5 years in prison, with the balance of the sentence served on supervised release.
Because he was convicted of felony third- and fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct, Le will also face mandatory registration as a predatory sex offender for a minimum of 10 years upon his release, under Minnesota Statute § 243.166, according to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety. That registration requires him to report his primary and secondary addresses to law enforcement on an ongoing basis.
