Massage Business Owner Arrested for Alleged Sexual Battery in Carpinteria

An Oxnard man was arrested for sexual battery charges perpetrated at his massage business in Carpinteria Friday afternoon after he allegedly sexually assaulted an undercover detective.

Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s detectives had been investigating two independent reports of sexual assaults that occurred at Max Relax at 1108 Casitas Pass Road in Casitas Plaza, where both victims described similar incidents of sexual battery by the suspect, 46-year-old Xiaodong Mei. As part of the investigation, a detective posed as a customer and was reportedly sexually assaulted in the same way before arresting Mei, who is being held on $100,000 bail.

Detectives strongly believe there are additional survivors of sexual assault who have not yet been identified. The Sheriff’s Office would like to encourage anyone with knowledge of additional crimes associated with Mei or Max Relax in Carpinteria to please contact Detective Cockrell at infoSIB@sbsheriff.org or by phone at (805) 681-4175. If you would like to be anonymous, you can submit information online at sbsheriff.org/home/anonymous-tip or by calling (805) 681-4171.