Woman Claims She Was Sexually Assaulted At Spa
S. Fla. Spa On Probation For Unlicensed Workers

PLANTATION, Fla. — A popular South Florida day spa was put on probation for a year for having unlicensed workers, and a woman claimed she was sexually assaulted at the spa.

“We didn’t do anything wrong. Contour Day Spa didn’t do anything wrong,” said David Schottenfeld, an attorney for the spa.

Contour’s lawyer might feel that way. But members of the State Board of Massage therapy disagree.

The posh day spa and its owner are now on probation. Contour’s owner, Fanit Panofsky, would not talk  about her hiring practices, about the disciplinary action taken by the state or about hiring Ivson Brazil.

Panofsky hired Brazil to perform Turkish baths at Contour. Brazil allegedly fled the country after being accused of sexually assaulting a Contour client while performing a Turkish bath.

When questioned by police, Brazil called it an “accident,” saying that he slipped on wet tile, causing his mouth to make contact with a client’s “vaginal area.”

Brazil was not licensed as the state said he should have been. His prior job was working at a carwash.

When a state massage board attorney questioned Panofsky about the hiring, she said she hired him to “clean up.” As far as performing the Turkish bath, she said she told him, “She had no one else at the time, and that she trained him, had someone train him on the premises,” according to Sam Diconcilio, an attorney for the Board of Massage Therapy.

As part of the probation, the state will make four unannounced inspections at Contour within the next year to make sure everyone inside is properly licensed.

The massage board’s attorney had to convince the spa owner that the Turkish bath was a form of massage and needed to be done by a licensed, well-trained professional. Diconcilio said, “You can’t have somebody on a table with no clothes on, and nobody can touch them without a license.”

The Contour Day Spa was also fined. Their probationary period lasts until the middle of 2009.

The alleged victim in the case filed a civil suit against Contour for negligence, but a jury found Contour was not liable for Brazil’s actions.

Full Article and Credits