For the Fourth Time, Bacara Massage Therapists Are Accused of Sexual Battery

Two new lawsuits have been filed against Ritz-Carlton Bacara massage therapists for alleged sexual battery against clients. 

The filings echo a 2022 lawsuit that recently concluded with a large financial settlement, and another similar complaint that was resolved between attorneys before it reached the courts. 

Three of the four cases involve the same massage therapist, Jacob Atkinson, who has since been terminated by the Bacara. He now operates a private practice in Goleta. Attempts to reach Atkinson for comment were unsuccessful.

The remaining complaint names a current Bacara masseur, Arnold Martinez-Lenz, whose personal attorney declined to comment for this story. Multiple calls and emails made by the Independent over the last two weeks to lawyers and representatives of the Bacara and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company went unreturned. In legal motions, they have denied the allegations.

Jane Doe, a Ventura County resident, was staying at the Bacara for a three-day convention in 2021 when she met with Atkinson at the resort spa for a scheduled massage, according to the lawsuit filed earlier this month in Santa Barbara County Superior Court. 

“During the massage, the Perpetrator touched Plaintiff’s vagina multiple times,” the suit claims. “He also touched her breasts, improperly draped and exposed her, and brushed his erect penis against her arm/hand twice.”

“Plaintiff was frozen and felt like she could not move or speak,” the complaint continues. “She was shocked and disgusted. She felt like she was in a very vulnerable position and did not know what to do in response.”

Through her attorney, Doe provided a statement to the Independent about the incident and her ultimate decision to move forward with a lawsuit. Doe is represented by Jennifer Miller with the Santa Barbara law firm Nye Stirling Hale Miller & Sweet, the same firm that has successfully sued the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles, the Boy Scouts of America, and more recently, the Montecito Union School District for sexual misconduct 

“For years, I lived with the pain and shame of what happened to me,” Doe said. “It took a long time before I felt strong enough to come forward. When I finally did, I learned that the hotel had prior knowledge that this therapist had assaulted other women — yet he was allowed to continue working. That discovery was devastating.”

The trauma has affected every aspect of her life, Doe said. “I have suffered from depression, loss of work opportunities, marital strain, and a profound loss of enjoyment in life. I have been in therapy and continue to work every day toward healing.”

Miller also represented the victim in the 2022 case involving Atkinson. In their defense, Bacara attorneys argued that the victim ― a Santa Barbara resident and married mother of three ― had flirted with him. “It was plaintiff who began acting suggestively during her massage and Mr. Atkinson who tried to rebuff or ignore her behavior,” the attorneys allege in court records.

John Doe and his wife were staying at the Bacara in 2024 when he received a massage from Martinez-Lenz who “engaged in illegal acts of sexual abuse, molestation and exploitation,” claims the second new lawsuit. “Due to this massage abuse, John Doe suffers severe mental anguish which has completely interfered with his day-to-day life.”

John Doe is represented by Mary Alexander, a San Francisco attorney who specializes in cases of misconduct by massage therapists. “My client went to the Ritz-Carlton in Santa Barbara to enjoy a relaxing time with his wife, only to be preyed upon by a sexual predator employed by the hotel,” Alexander said. “The hotel should have had protocols to prevent this sort of abuse, and now my client’s life is forever changed.”

Criminal charges have yet to be filed against either Atkinson or Martinez-Lenz. Sheriff’s Office detectives noted during one of their investigations that when they tried to interview spa employees they were “met with resistance by [Bacara] staff, who said various things such as they were not the right person [to talk to].”

The Martinez-Lenz case is scheduled for its next hearing on November 12. The Atkinson matter is scheduled for a case management conference on February 6.