An employee at a Logan International Airport massage studio was arrested for allegedly raping a customer over the weekend.
Darnell E. Williams, 29, of Boston, is charged with a single count of rape. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment Thursday and was ordered held on $5,000 bail.
Massachusetts State Police said Williams worked for the Be Relax Massage Studio inside Terminal B, and raped a 25-year-old woman while giving her a massage on Sunday night.
The victim, who is from another state, went to the studio for a massage while waiting for her flight to depart. She told police that Williams led her to a room in a back corner of the studio where she got on a massage table.
About 35 minutes into the hour-long massage, Williams allegedly raped the woman while she was lying down. The woman immediately asked him to stop the massage session, but Williams continued to touch her inappropriately before exiting the room.
The victim left the massage studio extremely distraught and became physically ill in the airport and throughout her flight.
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Upon returning home, she told a family member what had happened and contacted Massachusetts State Police the next day. Troopers began an investigation and determined that Williams was the only employee who was working at the Be Relax Massage Studio during the time of the rape.
Williams is not an employee of the Massachusetts Port Authority. He is employed by Be Relax, a sub-tenant of Airmall, a company that manages businesses at the airport.
Massport issued a statement thanking state police for their prompt action.
"Based on their investigation, the individual's access badge has been permanently removed. We have brought the seriousness of this charge to his employer," the statement read.
Be Relax management said it is working with state police investigators and will provide any information they need. They said Williams has worked for them for 5 years and there were no previous problems, and he passed all background checks before he was hired.
"We have a strong company policy in place which requires all of our employees to be properly screened, licensed and trained. They are also subject – before hiring and subsequently every two years - to mandatory background checks by the Transportation Security Administration and fingerprinting by the Massachusetts State Police," company CEO Nicholas Briest said. "We were shocked to learn of these allegations against our employee, and are cooperating fully with all authorities. During their investigation this employee will have no access to any of our facilities or other secured areas of Logan International Airport."
The Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs said both Be Relax and Williams are licensed by the state and Williams had no prior disciplinary issues.
