WARNING: This story contains disturbing details.
A former British Columbia massage therapist has been convicted on a dozen counts of sexual assault.
Surrey RCMP announced eight sexual assault charges against Leonard Krekic in 2023 related to allegations involving at least eight patients between 2001 and 2017.
The White Rock resident was working out of a clinic on 136A Street in Surrey as well as two clinics in Penticton in the Okanagan Valley at the time.
Prosecutors later added five additional counts.
On Wednesday, a B.C. Supreme Court judge in New Westminster convicted Krekic on 12 of those 13 counts, the B.C. Prosecution Service said.
In 2022, Krekic was banned from working as a massage therapist for 25 years in what the College of Massage Therapists of B.C. described at the time as “one of the most serious cases” of misconduct it had ever handled.
He was also handed more than $100,000 in penalties, including a $10,000 fine and $95,953 in costs to the college. The disciplinary panel stated the harsh penalty was necessary to ensure public confidence in the regulation of massage therapists.
The investigation heard from six patients who complained of unwanted sexual touching.
Throughout the disciplinary process, patients shared disturbing stories with the college about Krekic placing his hands under their underwear, massaging their genitals and breasts, pressing his groin against them and inserting his fingers into one woman’s anus.
The college’s disciplinary decision also concluded that Krekic began a close relationship with a much younger patient “for personal and financial gain,” hugged patients without their consent, and involved clients in “inappropriate faith-based conversations.”
Patients told the college the incidents had left them distrustful of male health professionals and suffering from anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder.
Krekic resigned his registration with the college in 2020.
He is due back in court on June 4 to set a date for sentencing.
