Santa Barbara County Sheriff's deputies arrested a masseur out of Carpinteria Friday.
Xiaodong Mei, 46, of Oxnard was arrested for sexual battery charges perpetrated at his massage business Max Relax at 1108 Casitas Pass Road in Carpinteria.
Sheriff's detectives began investigating two independent reports of sexual assaults that occurred at this business earlier this month. Investigators say the survivors in each of the incidents described similar crimes of sexual battery, with Mei as the suspect.
As part of the investigation, a detective posing as a customer visited the business on Friday and was reportedly sexually assaulted in a similar manner to the previously reported assaults.
Mei was arrested and booked for charges including sexual battery and false imprisonment. Mei is being held on $100,000 bail.
Detectives strongly believe there are additional survivors of sexual assault who have not yet been identified. The Sheriff's Office would like to encourage anyone with knowledge of additional crimes associated with Mei or Max Relax in Carpinteria, to contact Detective Cockrell at infoSIB@sbsheriff.org or by phone at 805-681-4175. If would like to be anonymous, you can submit information by calling (805) 681-4171.
The Sheriff's Office would like to remind survivors that they can also find support services through Standing Together to End Sexual Assault by calling (805) 564-3696.
