Second Georgia woman files police report on former Nashville massage therapist

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A second woman has filed a police report with Duluth, Georgia, police, claiming a former Nashville massage therapist charged with multiple sex crimes against women in Middle Tennessee lured her into his home under false pretenses.

A series of News4 Investigations exposed that for years women in Middle Tennessee filed police reports and complaints with the state that Tarek Mentouri had sexually violated them during massages and job interviews, yet he was never arrested or had his license taken away.

Following News4′s stories, Mentouri was charged with multiple sex crimes, including rape and kidnapping.

Pending trial, Mentouri was allowed by a judge to move to the Atlanta area to care for his ailing mother.

Among his bond conditions, Mentouri is prohibited from contacting women through Craigslist and Facebook.

Following his move to Atlanta, Dr. Diana Eidson, a Duluth resident, told police that Mentouri offered to massage her but failed to disclose his criminal charges and revoked massage license.

Eidson said she repeatedly told Mentouri she was not interested and that he did not touch her.

A judge then ruled that because Mentouri did not make money from offering the massage to Eidson, he did not technically violate the terms of his bond.

“This behavior that you’re engaging in, while they are not unlawful, had they crossed that like, you would be sitting (in jail) right now. I hope you understand that,” Judge Jennifer Smith said in January.

On April 22, another woman, who asked that News4 Investigates not reveal her name for fear of retaliation, said she applied for a freelance job for a “health spa worker.”

She said she was given the name of the poster of the job as Issac Men, the name Mentouri used to earn media attention in Atlanta, as first exposed by chief investigative reporter Brendan Keefe at WXIA-TV.

She said she researched that name on Freelance.com and found nothing alarming.

When she arrived for the interview, she said she was troubled to learn she would be meeting “Issac” at his condo, not the site of a health spa.

When she entered his condo, she said she immediately knew something was wrong.

“He closed the door and locked it,” she said. “At that time, I felt a little frightened.”

“Did you think that was strange that he immediately locked the door?” News4 Investigates asked.

“I felt like that,” she said.

In messages provided to News4 Investigates, the woman said Mentouri asked if she liked massages, and she indicated yet.

But in those messages, she also said she’s seeking jobs in data entry and web design.

In the messages, Mentouri wrote that he was trying to restart his business after working for massage clinics.

She said Mentouri did not mention that his license has been revoked in Tennessee and is inactive in Georgia.

She described to News4 Investigates that when she sat down in the condo, she started talking about how she could work on his website.

She said Mentouri appeared to become uncomfortable and then walked into another room to silence his dog.

When he returned, she said he had a bottle of lotion in his hand.

“Moved himself towards me, and then bent his head to touch my foot, and when he did, I just said no,” she said.

She said she quickly left, thinking it was just a strange encounter until she read about Eidson and the other women in Tennessee.

“I’m just reporting it because it’s a security reason for other women as well, and we need to think about other women,” she said.

A spokesman for Duluth police said they were sharing the police report with the Davidson County district attorney’s office.

News4 Investigates contacted the district attorney’s office asking that if Mentouri wrote that he was starting up a health spa business and is accused of touching a woman during an attempted massage, if that violated his bond conditions, but no one from the office responded to News4 Investigates by the deadline.

Mentouri’s attorney also did not return News4 Investigates’ call for comment.

Copyright 2022 WSMV. All rights reserved.