By Joe Johnson
A massage therapist has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two female clients last year at an Athens salon where he had been employed.
According to Clarke County Superior Court documents, 29-year-old Cody Jonathan Barrett entered into a plea agreement with the District Attorney’s Office, in which he pleaded guilty to two counts of misdemeanor sexual battery, rather than one count of that offense and a count of felony aggravated sexual battery, for which he had been indicted by a grand jury.
In accordance with the plea deal, Western Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Eric Norris sentenced Barrett to six months in confinement at the county jail and 18 months on probation, court records show.
The sexual assaults occurred on separate days in August 2020, according to Athens-Clarke County police and court records.
According to police, who did not release the name of the business, A 50-year-old woman reported that on Aug. 7 she was getting a massage by Barrett when he touched her inappropriately.
For that alleged act, the indictment charged Barrett with misdemeanor sexual battery because he “intentionally made physical contact” with the victim “by touching the outside of her vagina while performing a therapeutic massage...”
The second alleged victim, a 34-year-old customer, reported she was assaulted by Barrett on Aug. 22 in a manner that made the alleged offense felony aggravated sexual battery, according to police.
The indictment alleged that Barrett inserted his finger in that victim’s vagina without her consent.
Barrett is from Homer in Banks County, but at the time of his arrest he was living on Marlin Street in Athens. He was fired by the Athens salon after the customers made their allegations.