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B.C. masseur pleads not guilty to four counts of sexual assault

Jun Dong Gao, 49, has elected to be tried by a provincial court judge.
massage table
A Vancouver masseur has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault.

A 48-year-old man has pleaded not guilty to four counts of sexual assault after incidents at two massage locations in East Vancouver in 2022.

Vancouver Police Department (VPD) initially announced Jun Dong Gao, 49, that two women reported being sexually assaulted in early February at two different Happy Feet Massage locations.

Court documents allege two incidents happened Feb. 6, 2022 while two others occurred Jan. 15 and Jan. 30, 2022.

The massage company's owners cooperated with police and Gao was arrested on Feb. 10, the VPD said.

Gao’s lawyer Gail Barnes appeared before Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Ellen Gordon Feb. 22.

Barnes told Gordon that Gao was pleading not guilty on all counts and has elected to be tried by a provincial Court judge.

Gao was released on bail Nov. 14, 2022.

Conditions of the bail include no practicing massage or any other service where he'd physically touch a client.

Gao is also prohibited from applying for a Chinese passport or any other travel document. He cannot leave B.C. without permission from a bail supervisor.

And, can have no contact with four women and must stay away from two East Vancouver locations.

The case is set for trial April 15-18 and April 24-26.

The B.C. College of Massage Therapists confirmed to Glacier Media that it has never had a registrant named Jun Dong Gao.