Documents show Nevada massage board allowed accused sexual predator to keep license - KTNV 13 Action News Las Vegas

[Darcy Spears]

LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — A state agency may have missed a chance to protect the public from a sexual predator.

Earlier this month, 13 Investigates broke the story of a massage therapist who assaulted two women at two different spas in less than five months.

As we first reported, the massage therapist in this case was arrested, charged, and released from jail pending trial. While out of jail, he got hired at a different spa, and assaulted another woman during a massage.

WATCH: Las Vegas massage therapist assaults women at Westgate, Massage Heights

"There are some that have more of a predatory nature that figure out how to work the system"

After our first story aired, 13 Investigates took a deeper dive into Nevada law, and obtained proof of what appears to be a possible glaring failure by the board that's responsible for licensing therapists and protecting the public.

We only have initials to represent two women whose trust was betrayed — One visiting our city for her bachelorette party and the other, a Las Vegas local who's represented in a civil lawsuit by attorney Robert Murdock against Massage Heights and therapist David Peter Trecha (aka Treche).

"And what he did in this case to my client was not just violent, it was penetration — digital penetration — and it was awful," Murdock said.

Trecha is currently serving two to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty in July to the felony attempted sexual assault of Murdock's client during a February therapy session at Massage Heights on Warm Springs and Stephanie in Henderson.

That assault was Trecha's second in a four-and-a-half month span.

Court records show on September 30, 2023, Trecha also assaulted a female tourist at the Westgate Hotel's Serenity Spa.

"Westgate reported it immediately to the massage board. They called the police and Mr. Trecha was arrested," Murdock said.

Trecha was charged and subsequently released from jail pending trial.

According to our review of state law, that should have triggered action by the Nevada State Board of Massage Therapy.

Nevada Revised Statute 640C.720 says the board can temporarily suspend a therapist's license "If the board finds, based upon evidence in its possession, that immediate action is necessary to protect the health, safety or welfare of the public."

It doesn't stop there. The law goes on to say, "If a massage therapist... is charged with... any... sexual offense, the appropriate law enforcement agency shall report the charge... to the executive director of the board... (who) shall immediately issue... a cease and desist order temporarily suspending the massage therapist's license."

Nevada Legislature


"You are reading the law correctly as far as what we can do," said Massage Board Executive Director Elisabeth Barnard.

Darcy Spears: You have to be informed and then you have to take action.
Liz Barnard: Correct.

Darcy Spears: But that did not happen.

Liz Barnard: So, if we're informed, then we will take that action.

Three days after that interview, 13 Investigates learned the board was informed.

Through a public records request, we obtained an email chain from LVMPD, proving that on September 30, 2023, police notified Barnard and the board about allegations that David Treche "groped a customer during a massage."

Barnard responded to Metro via email saying, "There are no records of anyone by that name in our licensing database."

That's because the massage board had his last name spelled Trecha — with an "a." Metro's email spelled it Treche — with an "e." And even though Metro provided a date of birth and social security number, the board failed to match them up.

I asked Barnard about the records we got from Metro, but she has not responded.

In our December 13 interview, she said, "It's probably not a perfect system. We continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that we get correct reporting and accurate reporting."

Despite both the Westgate's and Metro's report to the board, and Trecha's pending charges for open and gross lewdness in 2023, the massage board admits it cannot find any evidence of a temporary license suspension for Trecha, which the law requires.

"So, it tells me they didn't do their job and they allowed this guy to perpetrate yet another sexual assault on another woman," Murdock said.

Barnard says the board did issue a cease and desist order to Trecha in February of this year, after the second assault.

Darcy Spears: What is the public to make of the fact, and the second victim to make of the fact, that action was not taken despite what this NRS says should have happened?
Liz Barnard: I don't have an answer for that.

Darcy Spears: Is there any way you can help us understand why the tools that you have at your disposal were not used?

Liz Barnard: I have reviewed this case several times — forwards, backwards, every which way — and I do not find that we failed to do anything that we could have done.

Murdock disagrees, saying Trecha's license was listed as active and in good standing when he was hired by Massage Heights, where he assaulted the woman Murdock represents.

"The massage board obviously didn't take his license away that quick. They didn't notify the public. They didn't do much," Murdock said, "I think that's a problem."

It wasn't until October that Trecha's license was finally revoked for 10 years, the maximum allowed by Nevada law.

"We're reviewing our processes and not that we weren't paying attention to them prior to this, but absolutely I don't want to feel as though we've ever failed in our duty," Barnard said.

13 Investigates has learned that the Nevada Attorney General's Boards and Open Government Division can investigate any alleged failure by the massage board to follow the law. They need a formal complaint to get that process started.

We plan to share this story with the Attorney General's Office to support any investigation they may open.