East Valley massage therapist pleads guilty to sex-crime charges

QUEEN CREEK, AZ — An East Valley massage therapist has been sentenced to five years in prison in connection to sex-crime charges involving four victims.

Raul Perez Ochoa, 47, will also have lifetime probation and will have to register as a sex offender under the terms of a plea agreement outlined in court.

He agreed to plead guilty to four criminal counts: one count of attempted sexual assault, two counts of sexual abuse, and one count of assault with sexual motivation.

In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop seven other criminal charges, including the more serious charges of sexual assault.

Police said the incidents involving four women happened at two different massage businesses.

Queen Creek police received a sexual assault complaint against Ochoa in October 2022, and Ochoa was fired from that job. Police records say the alleged victim declined prosecution, so they closed the criminal case.

A police report says a detective contacted the Arizona State Board of Massage Therapy, which licenses massage therapists but was told in January 2023 that the board couldn’t go forward without the complainant testifying. Police records say she declined to participate.

Ochoa continued working, this time at a massage therapy business in Gilbert, according to police reports. In April 2023, Gilbert police contacted Queen Creek police with information that they were investigating Ochoa for an alleged incident in February 2023. A joint investigation was launched.

As they were investigating, Gilbert police said they received another complaint in May 2023. None of the alleged victims knew each other, police said, giving them probable cause to arrest Ochoa.

Email ABC15 Investigator Anne Ryman at [email protected], call her at 602-685-6345, or connect on X, formerly known as  Twitter, and  Facebook.