Michigan
Health workers still on job after sex abuse reports. Michigan law allows it
When a Detroit woman made an appointment at MassageLuXe to get a massage, she had no idea her masseuse had previously been accused of sexual assault.
The 34-year-old woman fell asleep during her September 2024 massage at the Troy MassageLuXe location, she wrote in a lawsuit filed in August in Oakland County Circuit Court. When she woke up, she said Charles Campbell’s fingers were inside her vagina.
Campbell, a licensed massage therapist, had previously been reported to the Troy police for allegedly sexually assaulting another patient in December 2021, according to a Troy police report. That case was closed with no charges. He was also reported in 2013 to Birmingham police for allegedly sending a client’s private photos from her phone to himself during a massage. He admitted to sending himself the photos, according to the same Troy police report that summarized the Birmingham case, but no charges were ever filed.
Campbell, 46, of Hazel Park was charged Monday in Troy’s 52-4 District Court with one count of third-degree criminal sexual conduct in connection with the assault of the 34-year-old, which is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. When he was arrested Monday, he was working as a massage therapist at the Franklin Spa in Franklin, said Brenda Rogers, who works at Troy’s pretrial services, during Campbell’s Tuesday arraignment.
Campbell did not have an attorney listed in court records and was represented by an arraignment attorney during the Zoom hearing. Franklin Spa did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment.
Despite the multiple allegations against Campbell, he was never reported to the state agency that regulates licensed health professionals in Michigan. In fact, there’s no state law requiring police or non-state licensed health facilities to report misconduct by some health professionals, such as massage therapists, to Michigan’s licensing agency. Campbell did not respond to a request for comment.
“He shouldn’t be able to do anything,” said the woman Campbell allegedly assaulted in Troy. The Detroit News is not naming her as an alleged victim of sexual assault.
“He shouldn’t be able to work in a public eye, period, not if you feel that comfortable to do something like that to a complete stranger,” she said.
Campbell is one of at least 10 health professionals since 2020 who continued to work as licensed health professionals in Michigan even after being accused of misconduct, a Detroit News review found.
Despite three police reports being filed against Campbell, neither police nor his employers ever reported him to the Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, the state agency that regulates licensed health professionals, according to a public records request to the department. Campbell has no LARA complaint history. Tara Liles, MassageLuXe Troy’s attorney, declined to comment on the lawsuit or the allegations against Campbell.
Troy Magistrate Elizabeth Chiappelli said during Tuesday’s arraignment that Campbell’s prior contacts with police “look very, very damning.” Chiappelli gave him a $100,000 cash bond and said Campbell cannot continue working as a massage therapist while the case is pending.
Lawmakers consider reviewing state law for reporting changes
According to a Detroit News review of LARA records, more than 150 health professionals have been disciplined for sexual misconduct since 2020.
Under state law, only health facilities such as acute care hospitals, nursing homes, homes for the elderly, hospice facilities, surgery centers, clinical laboratories and health maintenance organizations are required to report to the state when an employee is disciplined or fired.
Some see that as a shortcoming of Michigan’s laws and want to see state law broadened to expand reporting requirements for health professionals, such as massage therapists, disciplined for misconduct. That means if an employee was fired or disciplined for sexual misconduct, their employer would be required to report it to the state’s licensing agency.
At least three Michigan lawmakers said the reporting gaps in state law — especially that police aren’t required to report investigations of health professionals — are worth reviewing for possible legislative changes.
“There’s a lot of different gaps in the way that criminal sexual conduct is handled,” said Rep. Julie Brixie, D-Meridian Township. “I think there are a lot of organizations that have mishandled this in the past, which allows people to continue to abuse others while under the employ of somebody else.”
The 34-year-old Detroit woman who reported that Campbell sexually assaulted her, too, said she was surprised to find the law did not have more protections for patients or clients. She suspected more clients might have been assaulted by the same man who allegedly assaulted her.
What state law requires to be reported to LARA
State law only requires health facilities or agencies that are licensed by the state, along with mental health facilities, to report if a health professional has been disciplined, resulting in changes to the work they are able to do or if the professional has been fired, said LARA spokesperson Emily Fitzgerald. Massage parlors are not considered licensed medical facilities in Michigan.
If a facility does not report this change in staff privileges within 30 days, the Bureau of Community and Health Systems may choose to investigate it for non-compliance with the law and can require corrective actions to be taken.
Every licensed health professional is also required to report any violations of the public health code to LARA if they know of their coworker’s misconduct. They could be disciplined if they do not do this. A review of disciplinary actions over the past six months did not find any cases where coworkers failed to report misconduct. Fitzgerald said LARA does not have the data on how often licensees are cited for this.
“All allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and are reviewed based on the specific facts and evidence involved,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “Investigations are conducted in accordance with established procedures, and any resulting disciplinary actions are determined through a formal process that includes review and approval by the appropriate professional Board and its Disciplinary Subcommittee, as outlined in the Board and Disciplinary Subcommittee process.”
Of the 150 health professions disciplined for sexual misconduct, 22% were massage therapists and 19% were social workers. The massage therapists’ misconduct was nearly all non-consensual actions, while the social workers were primarily disciplined for inappropriate relationships with patients or clients.
Chiropractors, counselors, medical doctors, nurses, pharmacists, psychologists, physical therapists and one dentist — of whom nearly 80% are men — made up the rest of the health professionals disciplined for misconduct. Their punishment varied from single-day suspensions to license revocations. Some also voluntarily surrendered their license to the state.
About a third of the health professionals were convicted of a crime for their misconduct, though some of the crimes were not related to their jobs.
WMU study finds high rates of serious misconduct in small professions
A Western Michigan University study published this month in the Journal of Medical Regulation found that while sexual misconduct complaints rose 83% from 2011 to 2023, LARA’s total sanctions declined about 4%. Smaller professions, like podiatry and massage therapy, have disproportionately high rates of serious misconduct per capita, the study reported.
The study also found that it takes a lot for someone’s license to be revoked for sexual misconduct. Of 237 sex-related cases, less than 5% resulted in permanent revocation of someone’s license, researchers found.
“You basically have to be Larry Nassar to have your license permanently revoked,” Dr. Tyler Gibb, an associate professor and co-chair of the Department of Medical Ethics, Humanities and Law at Western Michigan, said in a WMU article. “You basically have to be a monster.”
The Western Michigan researchers urged that data-sharing partnerships be formed between LARA, police and public health researchers.
Brixie agreed, referencing the case of disgraced Michigan State University sports doctor Larry Nassar, who is serving an effective life sentence in prison for child pornography and for sexually assaulting hundreds of women and girls under the guise of medical treatment.
Women reported Nassar to police years before he was arrested in 2016, dating back to 2004. Meridian Township police admitted in 2018 that the department failed a 17-year-old girl in the 2004 case after she reported sexual assault by Nassar, and the report was never forwarded to prosecutors.
“If police had reported (the report about Nassar) to the licensing body, I think that would have had a much better outcome or the opportunity for a better outcome,” Brixie said.
The Lansing-area lawmaker has requested that a bill be drafted to require police to report misconduct investigations to LARA for health professionals. It would be added to her bill package on the statutes of limitations.
“This seemed like another backstop that we could put in place that would really make a lot of sense,” Brixie said. “It seems to me that people reporting something to the police is really a first step that a lot of people may choose to take. If we fail to have that trigger the appropriate investigation within the organization, I think that we’re continuing to fail our people and fail to protect people from sex abuse by medical professionals.”
Rep. Julie Rogers, D-Kalamazoo, said pieces of the public health code and Michigan law cover a lot of instances of misconduct reporting. Licensed coworkers have to report misconduct, as do health professionals who spot abuse of a child or vulnerable adult. But she said the training for who has to report what to LARA, the state’s licensing and regulatory affairs agency, is done on an institution-by-institution basis, and not everyone may know about being required to report misconduct to the state.
“Keeping patients safe is very important to me and making sure again these kinds of allegations and situations are fully investigated,” Rogers said. “I’d also say that I think we’d be interested in exploring what LARA does after they get these complaints and how sometimes a government agency’s reporting can be kind of siloed.”
No state record of misconduct after police, company reports
Most of the cases reviewed by The News came from LARA’s health license disciplinary action reports. But several, including massage therapist Campbell and another massage therapist named in lawsuits filed against MassageLuXe locations in Birmingham and Troy, never prompted any investigation by LARA, despite both women reporting their conduct to either police or MassageLuXe. Both massage therapists still have an active license with no disciplinary investigations.
A LARA investigation begins when someone reports misconduct to the department or, in some cases, when LARA staff see misconduct or criminal charges being reported in the media.
LARA investigators conduct their own review of the case, sometimes at the same time as police, when the alleged actions rise to a criminal level. When the investigation concludes, LARA can choose to close the complaint with no action, or it can reprimand a licensee, suspend his or her license, put the individual on probation or revoke a license.
The 34-year-old Detroit woman said she was sexually assaulted in September 2024 by Campbell, a massage therapist at Troy’s MassageLuXe, according to her lawsuit, filed in August in Oakland County Circuit Court. She reported the assault to both MassageLuXe and police, according to the lawsuit.
MassageLuXe Troy’s attorney, Tara Liles, declined to comment on the lawsuit.
Another woman said she reported to the Birmingham MassageLuXe, who did not respond for comment, that in May 2023, a massage therapist there had sexually assaulted her, according to her lawsuit filed in November in Oakland County Circuit Court. The receptionist told her similar complaints had been made about the male therapist, and he was no longer with the company, according to the lawsuit.
Birmingham MassageLuXe did not respond to a request for comment.
If MassageLuXe had been a state-licensed health facility, it would have been required to report the massage therapist’s conduct to LARA. But it was not required to under state law.
The lawsuit related to the Birmingham sexual assault contended that MassageLuXe “systemically and intentionally conspired and concealed the rampant problem, danger and extensive reports of multiple instances of massage therapists at MassageLuXe franchise locations sexually assaulting customers throughout the country, including within the state of Michigan.”
The lawsuit alleged that MassageLuXe encourages the handling of sexual misconduct complaints in-house to “protect the brand” and does not report alleged assaults to police or LARA.
A third lawsuit against MassageLuXe, filed in December in Oakland County, alleged similar conduct by the company after a patient was sexually assaulted by massage therapist Ashraf Mohd-Hussein in May 2024 in West Bloomfield. In this case, Mohd-Hussein was convicted, sentenced to 57 months to 15 years in prison and had his license revoked.
Prior to working at MassageLuXe, Mohd-Hussein worked at the Massage Green Spa in Dearborn, according to LARA records. A woman reported to Dearborn police in March 2023 that he had sexually assaulted her, but the case was closed because there was no evidence of force or coercion, according to the police report contained in LARA records.
In December 2023, another woman reported to Massage Green Spa that Mohd-Hussein had sexually assaulted her. She refused to report the assault to police, according to LARA records, but the owner of the spa told LARA of the report.
Even with two sexual assault reports in his name, Mohd-Hussein was hired at MassageLuXe and sexually assaulted another woman, shoving a towel in her mouth during a massage, holding her hip down, penetrating her vagina and performing oral sex on her, according to LARA records.
MassageLuXe reported this assault to LARA immediately, according to LARA records. MassageLuXe West Bloomfield did not respond to a request for comment.
Women repeatedly reported assaults to Sinai Grace nurses
One highly publicized case of a health professional accused of misconduct involves former Detroit Medical Center Sinai Grace Hospital nurse Wilfredo Figueroa-Berrios. Accused of sexually assaulting multiple women since at least 2020, he faces both criminal charges and multiple civil lawsuits. More than two dozen lawsuits have been filed against him, and eight women are pressing criminal charges in connection with alleged sexual assaults of patients and, in one case, a coworker.
Sinai-Grace spokesperson Tammy Battaglia has defended the hospital’s hiring process as rigorous and said, “There was no indication of a concern during that process.” The hospital spokesperson added that the Detroit Medical Center system doesn’t “condone any type of abuse” and cooperated with law enforcement.
Years before Figueroa-Berrios worked at Sinai-Grace, at least two employees at his former employer, COPE Hegira Health Behavioral Urgent Care in Livonia, allegedly failed to report sexual assault allegations against Figueroa-Berrios to police, which led Livonia Police Detective Jenna Marx to seek a warrant against them for failure to comply with their mandatory reporting duties, according to a 2021 police report
Under the state’s mental health code, mental health professionals must report suspected criminal abuse to police immediately.
Wayne County Assistant Prosecutor Maria Miller said the warrant request for two staffers for failure to fulfill mandatory reporting duties is still being reviewed. If convicted, they face up to 93 days in jail.
Katherine Grisson, the senior director of marketing and communications at Hegira Health, which owns COPE, declined to comment. COPE serves adults and children in need of urgent psychiatric care.
Civil attorney Jim Rasor, who said he has handled many cases of sexual assault by health professionals, said the power imbalance between a patient and provider makes it difficult for victims to come forward and report an assault.
“It’s so egregious, and it happens so much,” Rasor said. “I’ve had cases with medical professionals where women who have been victimized by these serial sexual abusers have gone and told other doctors what happened. The doctors have told them, ‘Do not say that. First of all, I don’t believe my colleague did that. They’re a lot more powerful than you, nobody is going to believe you, and you’re going to look like an idiot.’ … That’s what (the abusers) are counting on.”
Rasor said he often sees cases where LARA knew of sexual assaults, did an investigation and allowed a health provider to go back to work without a chaperone and without modifying their practice.
LARA’s Fitzgerald said the department can’t comment on the accuracy of Rasor’s comment because it doesn’t reference a specific case, reiterating that “all allegations of misconduct are taken seriously and are reviewed based on the specific facts and evidence involved.”
Rasor said the health corporations don’t care about the customers.
“They don’t do their due diligence to protect patients,” he said. “It’s a good old boys’ club. They do everything they can to protect the perpetrators and nothing to protect the patients.”
kberg@detroitnews.com
FLINT, Mich. – On June 8, 1953, disaster struck the north side of Flint and the northern suburb of Beecher when the Flint-Beecher tornado, Michigan’s worst natural disaster in terms of deaths and injuries, tore through the area.
The Flint-Beecher tornado remains the only tornado to strike Southeast Lower Michigan rated F5 on the Fujita scale.
According to the National Weather Service, an F5 tornado produces “incredible damage,” with winds estimated between 261 and 318 mph — powerful enough to level strong frame houses, hurl automobile-sized debris more than 100 meters and debark trees.
The scale of the storm was staggering. At 800 yards wide, the tornado didn’t just destroy homes — it erased entire blocks, entire neighborhoods, entire chapters of people’s lives in the span of minutes. Winds are believed to have exceeded 200 mph.
The tornado traveled 27 miles at approximately 35 mph, killing 116 people and injuring 844 others in its path.
For those in its way, there was little warning and almost nowhere to go.
It stands as the deadliest natural disaster in Michigan history and the 10th deadliest in United States history.
The aftermath
So many people were killed that the National Guard Armory and other buildings were temporarily converted into morgues. More than 100 people — families and friends of victims — waited outside in the rain for hours before they could enter to identify the bodies.
State Police Captain James Berardo warned the people outside that the tornado had horribly battered some victims and that the scene inside would be gruesome.
The Flint-Beecher tornado claimed lives ranging from as young as 5 months to as old as 80.
Of the 116 killed, 55 were under 20 years old — and five of those were less than a year old. Of the 844 injured, the last two survivors to be hospitalized were not discharged until five months after the tornado.
At least 20 families reported losing more than one member. The Gensel and Gatica families each lost five people.
Community response
In the wake of the disaster, state troopers, the National Guard and the Red Cross quickly mobilized to assist. Within 12 hours of the tornado, they provided first aid, food and clothing to survivors.
The National Weather Service noted in their Beecher 50th Anniversary Commemoration that the Flint-Beecher Tornado was one of eight tornadoes that occurred that evening across the eastern portion of the Lower Peninsula, resulting in an additional nine deaths and 52 injuries.
The tornado destroyed nearly 340 homes, with 107 sustaining major damage and 153 experiencing minor damage. An additional 50 businesses and other buildings were damaged, totaling an estimated $19 million — nearly a quarter of a billion dollars in today’s money.
Rebuilding the community
Beecher was able to rebuild thanks to the broader Flint community, which rallied around a “Red Feather” campaign to gather relief and rebuilding funds. Combined with Red Cross support, the effort helped the community get back on its feet.
In the late summer of 1953, a community-supported “Builder Bees” project brought volunteers together to help rebuild homes lost in the tornado.
Copyright 2026 by WDIV ClickOnDetroit – All rights reserved.
Is it legal? Clarifying Michigan laws for everyday life
“Is it Legal?” is a weekly feature on freep.com that answers reader questions about Michigan laws. Topics covered include car window tinting regulations, permissible ways to deal with groundhogs, and whether it’s legal to record conversations in Michigan.
If a landlord isn’t making repairs in a rental home, can a tenant withhold their rent?
In short, yes, but it’s complicated.
A lease is essentially a contract between the landlord and tenant, saying the former will keep the property in good repair while the latter will pay rent, said Donovan McCarty, director of Michigan State University College of Law’s Housing Justice Clinic.
“If there are repairs, that means that the landlord has breached that contract, so the tenant then will often withhold rent,” McCarty said. But that is typically treated as a defense, meaning that once a landlord takes a tenant to court for nonpayment, the tenant can raise the issue of repairs and tell the judge that is why they were withholding payments. The money must be set aside in a separate escrow account.
Here’s what else to know:
What Michigan law says about withholding rent
Both tenants and landlords are responsible for maintaining a property, according to a guide for tenants and landlords by the state of Michigan’s Legislative Service Bureau. Michigan law requires landlords to keep properties in “reasonable repair” during the lease term and ensure the premises and common areas are fit for the intended use. These are referred to as “covenants of habitability and fitness,” or promises, from the landlord.
The law does not define “reasonable repair,” however. That means it is up to the discretion of a judge or jury if it’s brought before a court, the Legislative Service Bureau guide notes.
Michigan’s housing law is a floor, McCarty said, and municipalities can protect their residents beyond state law as needed. Detroit has its own rental ordinance. Ann Arbor has a housing code that outlines rules for rentals.
What can a tenant do if their landlord isn’t making repairs?
If a tenant needs repairs, they should let their landlord know as soon as possible and put it in writing, according to the Michigan Legal Help website, which is funded, in part, by the Michigan Supreme Court. If the landlord doesn’t respond, renters may withhold their rent by putting it into an escrow account or pay for the repairs themselves and deduct it from their rent.
The escrow account should be separate and hold only the rent money, the Michigan Legal Help website notes. The tenant should let their landlord know in writing that they’ve put the money into escrow. If a tenant decides to pay for the repairs, they should keep the receipts.
“Either should be done carefully and deliberately, ideally with advance notice (and an opportunity to cure the repair problems) to the landlord,” Jim Schaafsma, a housing attorney with the Michigan Poverty Law Program, said in an email. A renter can also make a complaint to their local building, housing or code enforcement agency.
How long should a tenant wait before putting their rent in escrow? How much rent can a tenant withhold pending repairs?
There’s no clear answer to either question, MSU’s McCarty said. There are, however, a couple of questions renters should consider: How would a judge — someone who is a neutral arbiter of the facts — view the action? In this case, is the act of withholding rent reasonable?
The city of Detroit is reworking its escrow program following a change in the rental ordinance, which meant administration of the program moved from the Buildings, Safety, Engineering, and Environmental Department to the Housing and Revitalization Department, and now the new Department of Human, Homeless and Family Services. The new program is expected to roll out by summer. The city is working with partners on the administration, rules and technology of the program, according to the city of Detroit’s Chelsea Neblett. The 36th District Court in Detroit has a process for accepting escrow payments but only if there is a pending case and order for escrow. Renters can also set up their own account.
For more information, go to Michigan Legal Help michiganlegalhelp.org/resources/housing/tenant-rights-and-responsibilities or refer to the Legislative Service Bureau’s Practical Guide for Tenants and Landlords at www.legislature.mi.gov/Publications/tenantlandlord.pdf.
Reach reporter Nushrat Rahman at nrahman@freepress.com.
Is it legal?
“Is it Legal?” is a recurring feature on freep.com that aims to help readers understand laws in Michigan and in their communities.
Do you have a question about what’s legal and what isn’t in Michigan? Email isitlegal@freepress.com and we’ll look into it for you.
The NEXT Weather Team is tracking Florida-like humidity and some storm chances for Southeast Michigan this week.
Monday will be the most comfortable day of the week, with dew points in the mid-50s to low 60s and high temperatures in the low to mid-80s under partly cloudy skies. Expect dry conditions and light winds as high pressure holds over the region.
A low pressure system from the High Plains will start moving in late Monday, bringing lots of moisture. Dew points are projected to rise sharply into the mid-60s to low 70s by Tuesday evening.
Showers and storms may start moving into Southeast Michigan overnight Monday and most of the Lower Peninsula is at moderate risk for excessive rainfall on Tuesday.
An extended stretch of heat and humidity is expected Wednesday through Friday with high temperatures between the upper 80s and low 90s and peak heat index values solidly in the upper 90s, with a chance of those values reaching 100.
Thursday is a NEXT Weather Alert Day as there could be either the highest and most dangerous heat index numbers or strong to severe storms. If storm chances increase, widespread heat impacts would be lessened. However, moderate to major heat impacts are possible, so be prepared by having a location for adequate cooling, limiting time outdoors and staying hydrated.
Pets should not be left outside for extended periods of time and may require extra water.
A cold front is expected to move through the state late Friday, bringing the heat and humidity down to more comfortable levels for the weekend.
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