Springfield massage therapist sentenced for sodomy - Springfield News-Leader

[massage]

Giacomo Bologna Springfield News-Leader

Published 10:14 AM EDT Oct 22, 2018


A woman stood in a Greene County courtroom Friday and struggled to speak as she recalled the days that led up to her wedding about three years ago.

She wanted to relax, the woman said, so she decided to get a massage.

Instead, the woman said she was victimized by her massage therapist, William Gene Morlang, who was convicted this year of two counts of sodomy and one count of sexual abuse.

Morlang's abuse caused her mental, emotional and physical pain, the woman said, and caused issues in her marriage that no young couple should have to deal with.

"This will forever be a part of me," she told the judge at Morlang's sentencing.

The woman asked for the harshest punishment possible for Morlang.

Morlang, 37, said he recognized the woman had been victimized, but adamantly denied culpability.

“I have not done any crime whatsoever,” Morlang said.

Morlang originally faced 10 criminal charges. Police say he abused four different women.

Court records show that at his trial's conclusion in August, a jury found him guilty of three counts and not guilty of five charges and failed to reach a verdict on two of the counts.

Before Judge Calvin Holden handed down a sentence for Morlang Friday, he pointed out that Morlang's case was not like other sodomy cases.

“You are in a profession that people have to trust that when they go there, a lot of things won’t happen,” Holden said. “Being in a unique position of trust, anytime that trust is violated is different than other cases.”

Holden sentenced Morlang to 4 years on each sodomy conviction. The charges will run consecutively for eight years. Holden also sentenced Morlang to a year on the sexual abuse conviction, which will run concurrent to the sentences.

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